Otter Creek Poetry Society celebrates National Poetry Month with Writing Marathon

Author: Elizabeth Scarinci

David Weinstock is not afraid to ask people tough questions, if poetry is what comes out of it.

On April 23, more than 20 community members gathered in the basement conference room of the Ilsley Public Library, as they do every Thursday, for the Otter Creek Poetry Society meeting. This Thursday, the group celebrated poetry month by holding a 3 1/2 hour writing workshop that Weinstock, the founder of the group, called the National Poetry Month Writing Marathon.

Over the course of the afternoon, the group - which ranged in age from nine to 89 - wrote prose and poetry to answer prompts proposed by Weinstock, such as "Who are you and what do you do in the world?" and "Write a story that you tell so well but have never written down."

After writing for 20 minutes about the prompt, "Ask your body, one part at a time, to tell you some stories," one man responded, "I had a long car ride with my arteries."

Another member offered positive thoughts about living with diabetes: "I try to be friends with every part of my body. Diabetes keeps me straight. It tells me that I have to work hard to keep the number down."

Weinstock, an alum of the College's Breadloaf School of English, started the Thursday workshop 12 years ago when he moved to Middlebury. He holds weekly meetings for Otter Creek Poets and bi-monthly meetings for the Spring Street Poets, a group of six members that discuss their poetry in more depth. Weinstock partially created the group to give poets a deadline.

"Poets never get deadlines," he said. "It's good for someone to say, 'Write a poem now.'"

More than creating a deadline, Weinstock emphasized the virtue of the critiques.

"Poetry is a very solitary art," he said. "You do it by yourself in your own room. Sometimes, you need an ear from somewhere else. Mostly it's a matter of having someone to talk to about what you're writing."

The group has attracted poets from the inexperienced to the award-winning, and has even included professors from the College.

On a typical Thursday afternoon, the group meets to critique poetry that the members have written. One member, Peter Szymkowicz, who has attended meetings off-and-on for the past few years, discussed how he has benefited from the open and inspirational group.

"You learn to defend the meaning in your words and the strength in your writing," he said. "They inspire you to become more experimental and courageous."

Another group member, Niel Worden, joined the club two months ago to transition from a 25-year creative writing hiatus since graduating from Colorado College. He commented on the constructive and open energy of the group.

"I have had some people say cutting things about my writing, but it's coming from a constructive place," he said.

During one of the discussions, the two nine-year-olds, Kiely and Orlando, whispered, "Can I read yours while you read mine?"

After the meeting, Kiely said, "I thought it was fun. One of the writings we did was hard for me to think about because I'm more of an artist."

Orlando showed concerns about the time limits during the workshop,

"I have so much that I wanted to do, but I couldn't really fit everything in," he said.

While two nine-year-olds attended the workshop on Thursday, usually the group consists of older, retired community members.

"It mostly tends to be older people, because that's who is free on a Thursday afternoon," Weinstock said.

Although he does not publicize the poetry group on campus, Weinstock encouraged any interested College students to come.

"Middlebury students are very welcome," he said. "The group is open and it's free."

Weinstock ended on a proud note, praising the accomplishments of the writers in the group and all Vermont writers.

"We make poetry happen in Vermont," he said.