February Workshop

I would like to introduce our presenters from ______________ school. Please give them your attention. As an appropriate audience member, you are reminded to be polite and respectful and please don’t interrupt the speaker. If you have questions, please save them until the end. You might have to jot a note down to remember it. At that time, raise your hand and wait to be called on. Now please enjoy learning something new from your SIT 2019 presenters.

Jenene Ravesloot has written five books of poetry. She has published in The Ekphrastic Review, After Hours Press, Sad Girl Review, DuPage Valley Review, the Caravel Literary Arts Journal, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Packingtown Review, The Miscreant, Exact Change Only, THIS Literary Magazine, and other online journals, print journals, chapbooks, and anthologies. Jenene is a member of The Poets’ Club of Chicago, the Illinois State Poetry Society, and Poets & Patrons. She has received two Pushcart Prize nominations in 2018. 

Noir, Now: a Workshop Sponsored by Poets & Patrons led byJenene Ravesloot and John O’Connor 

Saturday, February 23, 2019 

1:00-4:00 p.m. 

Harold Washington Library, 400 S State Street, Room 3rd Floor-6N 

In this workshop, we will be evaluating American noir poems, minus the hardboiled detective and the femme fatale of “Roman noir.” This is the noir poem of the down-and- out, whether victim, suspect, or perpetrator who is directly connected to the crime or crimes. This is the noir poem of the “Big City,” plunged into shades of gray rather than black and white. Our poems will present a world of doomed lovers and losers, told in direct, lean, and gritty lines. Here, the powerless struggle with a system that appears to be aligned against them. In this world it would appear no one gets away clean. But perhaps this is the opportunity to create a more hopeful noir poem, one that begins to address the inequities of our present power system. Perhaps this is the time for a new kind of noir poem written by those whose voices are just beginning to be heard. If time permits, each participant will also draft a noir poem. 

Me and Pretty Mary at the bar, Bobby flipping burgers in the back, killing roaches with frozen steaks. Juli walking through the door,
a blue tattooed butterfly fluttering
on one white breast while Matt passes another reefer, puts a quarter in the jukebox, plays “Lush Life.” Then, Jake rolls dice across green cloth. Snake eyes. No drinks all around. 

Jenene Ravesloot 

Would You Like to Lunch with Other Poets? 

Some of the poets gather at Panera, on the Southeast corner of State and Congress, between 11:30 and noon to have lunch or a cup of coffee together before the meeting. You are invited to join us there. 

Optional Workshop Assignment 

Write a noir poem (free verse, prose poem, or any form you choose). 

You may send one poem for critique, preferably a noit poem. If possible, email it to wildamorris@ameritech.net with P & P in the subject line. Otherwise mail your poem to Wilda Morris, 499 Falcon Ridge Way, Bolingbrook IL 60440- 2242. Deadline: received by February 15.  Fee: The workshop is free if you do not submit a poem. If you submit a poem for critique, there isafeeof $10fornon- members, $5 for members;. If you submit a poem, you must pay the fee even if you do not attend the meeting because the poems are critiqued in advance (leader feedback will be mailed to you if you are unable to attend the meeting). Please pay at the meeting, if you attend. Otherwise, mail your check made out to Poets & Patrons to the treasurer Beth Staas, 1725 35th St. #2101, Oak Brook IL

60523. Member ship dues of $20 are due at the beginning of the year, and can be also paid at the meeting. E-mail questions to Wilda. If you do not get a reply to an e-mailed poem, call Wilda at 630/739-2983 to be sure your poem was received.

John S. O'Connor is a writer who 

teaches at New Trier High School 

and at Northwestern University. His 

two books on teaching writing are Wordplaygrounds and This Time It's Personal. He has also 

published two books of haiku. His 

poems have appeared in places such as The Cortland Review, Poetry East, and Rhino, and some 

were collected in a recent chapbook called Rooting. 

His essays and reviews have 

appeared in places such as Colorado Review, Harvard Review, and Ploughshares. He has blogged 

for The Poetry Foundation, and he is the creator and host of the 

Schooled: the Podcast. 

If you miss the deadline, email to see if your poem can still be submitted.