Once Prosaic, Shaped Into Poetry

By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL

Alejandro de Acosta

Alejandro de Acosta, philosophy faculty member at The Evergreen State College, is the essayist and translator responsible for a Texas micro-press called mufa::poema. Born in Argentina, de Acosta translated poetry collections by Jorge Carrera and Carlos Oquendo de Amat. His wife, Elise Dressler, is the poetry coordinator who leads a modern-poetry book club at Browsers Bookshop. This summer, de Acosta and Dressler will team for an in-store class to teach the stages of perfecting formal poetry.

This Browsers workshop is perfect for “active poets who want to grow their writing life,” says Dressler. “He’s going to introduce all of the participants to a different form or writing style each week … Some of them incorporate meter, but some don’t. He’s going to explore the poetry diary, for example.” Other forms covered will be the haiku, microwriting and sonnets. Poets are encouraged to refine and workshop verses over the span of the six-week course. “Alejandro is a great speaker,” promises Dressler. “I’m looking forward to learning from him.” 

On July 8, poet Anthony McCann visited Browsers to discuss his latest book, Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff. Store owner Andrea Y. Griffith hosted that event, at which de Acosta was “in dialogue with” McCann as interviewer.

Seattleite Sarah Townsend will appear July 31 in support of her book, Setting the Wire: A Memoir of Postpartum Psychosis. Adds Griffith, “Those [events] are gonna be awesome.” 

WHAT

Summer Poetry Workshop

WHEN

6 p.m. Sundays, July 14 – August 18

WHERE

Browsers Bookshop,

107 Capitol Way N, Olympia

HOW MUCH

$150-$175

LEARN MORE

browsersolympia.com

360-357-7462

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