Mary Junge has been writing poetry for over four decades. Without fully grasping her true purpose when she first began writing (she was wandering in the wilderness), she soon discovered that poetry somehow helped her to cope with life. It allowed her, for instance, to rise above the limitations she felt after growing up in the shadow of a sister who suffered from serious mental illness. Junge has published individual poems in various literary journals and anthologies and three books of poems, the most recent, “Creatures of Promise” by Kelsay Books in 2024.

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The Brain on Metaphor

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“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”
― Emily Dickinson, Selected Letters

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Mary shares these insights: Did you know that regions of your brain light up when you read poetry? Metaphors are well known to help in communicating difficult concepts, but they also stimulate regions of the brain, creating connections that can give you goosebumps or provide comfort during times of grief. If that isn’t enough, writing poetry offers “aha” moments of self-discovery. Writing a poem with courage requires openness and at times discomfort, not knowing what will come next. In both reading and writing poetry, you may experience surprise, joy, and moments of clarification.

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Bring a notebook or your journal and a short poem that is a favorite to share. Also (this is optional) you may bring a poem that you have written, to share with a small group if you wish. We’ll start the workshop by reading some poems, talk briefly about metaphor and how to write vivid descriptions, do a few exercises to “mine” triggering subjects and images, and write to prompts. Finally, we’ll use some of the material we’ve gleaned to draft a sonnet, a fourteen-line poem. The form of the sonnet was invented around 1200 by the Italian poet Giacomo da Lentino and is still widely used.

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Good Books Related to Writing Poetry:

Finger Exercises for Poets, Dorianne Laux (2024)
Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World, Jane Hirshfield (2015)
The Teachers and Writers Handbook of PoeDc Forms, Ron Padgett, editor (1987)
The Art of Description: Word into Word, Mark Doty (2010) 
A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry, Mary Oliver (1994)