Paula Cisewski's Blog

Many thanks to River Urke, who invited me to visit her poetry interview series. It was a delight. 

Thanks to musician/composers Maura Bosch and Jeffrey Brooks, I've begun to curate the poetry for a monthly new music and poetry event, The Waves. Please join us any and every first Sunday at 5pm! Here is our brand new YouTube channel. 

Genre Blenders 
RESCHEDULED & VIRTUAL!
Six 2-hour sessions, 10am-12pm central time
January 15-February 19, 2021
Pay as you can: $120-$180
DM or contact me through my website!

Start your new year by jumpstarting your writing practice! I run this private workshop for intermediate to advanced writers who are interested in blurred genres or in crossing genre (from poetry to prose or vice versa). We'll focus on writers who make it seem effortless: Claudia Rankine, Brian Blanchfield, Eleni Sikelianos,...

Labyrinth of the First Draft: A Virtual Workshop
6-8pm central time, Zoom
November 21st, 2020
Pay as you can: $20-$30
Email here for registration instructions!

Prepare for winter's inward journey. We will explore how to incorporate this tool of reflection and discovery into our writing practice by drawing labyrinths and using the tool to both generate new writing and to re-see stuck work. We'll play with labyrinth-inspired prompts. We will read a bit of mythology, contemporary poetry, consider archet...

There are some spots left in this rescheduled workshop now that it has moved from my living room to Zoom. I would love to "see" you there. Email below to sign up!
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In the Cards: A Generative Poetry/Tarot Workshop
RESCHEDULED & VIRTUAL! 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24th, 5:45-8:00pm Central 
Pay as you can: $20-$30

Email  here for registration instructions!

Image, insight, archetype. Your Tarot deck may provide guidance, but how can you also use the deck to generate or revise your poems? I will give a brie...

If you have resolved to focus on your writing this year, maybe I can help! Spring and Summer are my best, most energized seasons to dedicate tomanuscript review and personalized writing project coaching. Please check out my services and be in touch here if you would like to talk about working together to forward your goals.

Also, the following small classes in Northeast Minneapolis are now open for registration:

Sunday, April 19th, 10am-2pm
In the Cards: A Generative Poetry/Tarot Workshop
$30,...

In a first attempt to blog at least monthly, I would like to share information about the League of Minnesota Poets Fall Conference, at which Jack and I will be presenting a multimedia exploration of solo and collaborative work. 

Our fellow presenters include See More Perspective, Lisa Marie Brimmer, John Medeiros, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Andrea Jenkins, and Downrange Telemetrics. 

Many years ago in Minneapolis, I went on a date to The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. (I know. It’s gone now, but that it existed at all is one of the many things I love about this city.) The museum housed, among other gems, a phrenology machine, an electric permanent wave contraption, and an x-ray machine for shoe stores, so a salesman could show you how roomy your bones looked inside your brand new loafers.

There was also a working Strength Test Machine: a red box with two metal bar...

The last labyrinth of 2016, December 28th, just off Bee Caves Road in Austin, TX.

Plus a list of books read in 2016, which I would like to exceed in 2017. (Recommendations welcome.)

January:
Lisa Ciccarello, I Only Thought of the Farm
Dean Young, 31 Poems
James Grinwis, Exhibit of Forking Paths
Anis Shivani, My Tranquil War
Linda Bierds, The Ghost Trio (partial read)
Lyn Hejinian, The Language of Inquiry (first part)

Audiobook: Brene Brown: Rising Strong

Bookshelf revisit: C.D. Wright, Steal Away...