Over the course of four and one-half days, faculty poets will present specific techniques for teaching poetry including sample exercises and prompts which teachers will be invited to try out and then discuss. Each day will offer sessions devoted to the participants sharing their own teaching ideas - a popular element in prior conferences. In addition, participants will write poetry every afternoon under the guidance of Dawn Potter.

Here is what you can expect each day: a faculty given discussion class or talk on an aspect of craft; a three-hour workshop for all participants; a period of silence for reading poetry; time to generate and revise poems. Each night, we'll carpool to the The Frost Place for readings in the Henry Holt Barn by faculty and guests. On the last night, the participants will read. Social gatherings, impromptu late night readings if you are so inclined, great food, and a warm community spirit. We'll live and write and think and talk poetry under one roof -- poetry and faculty -- commuters are welcome too!

Each faculty member is a seasoned writer and teacher who is committed to making the week successful for you. We will pay careful attention to each participant's goals (see directions for writing a cover letter on the application form) when matching participants to workshop leader. There will be time during the week to get to know all of the faculty -- in classes, at meals, readings, and get-togethers.

The Week's Main Focus: How a poem is made. We will look at syntax, diction, structure, pacing, tone, narrative development and other poetic elements to see just how writers manage their material. It's as simple, and as complex, as that. In so doing, we're going to immerse ourselves in poetry for the entire week.

If you want to spend a portion of July writing, revising, reading, learning, and having a wonderful time with other writers, please join us!

In various ways the Seminar will encourage each participant to examine what parent models s/he has taken, what skills and strengths have been received, like poetry DNA, from those parents (as well as, perhaps, weaknesses or blind spots), and finally whether those models are working well for the present or whether new parents need to be chosen to move forward with different work.

• Spend five days with a select community of poets exploring your artistic work in the context of a rich variety of poetry ancestors and contemporaries.
• Discover how poetic lineages and community can provide models, provocations and correctives to widen your thinking about your own efforts.
• Learn from a distinguished and accomplished faculty how poets choose, imitate, enter into dialogue with, and sometimes argue with the work of our poetic ancestors and contemporaries.
• Enjoy delicious group meals and spirited conversation surrounded by views of the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire.
• Take part in readings in the Henry Holt Barn at The Frost Place, where Robert Frost lived full time between 1915 and 1920 then spent summers through 1938.

The Seminar schedule features a daily morning presentation/discussion exploring aspects of craft and technique (with a close look at the work of our poetic parents); an afternoon workshop of participants' poems; and an evening reading (some by faculty poets and others featuring participants).

Seminar participants will be divided evenly for workshops between the three workshop faculty, and will remain with the same faculty member for all five days. We anticipate that each workshop will have six to seven people. You'll have the option to say which of the three faculty members you'd like to work with, but we prefer that you trust us to make the match. Presentations, discussions, meals and readings will provide many opportunities for you to interact with faculty and guests other than your workshop leader.