On Wednesday, March 15, UFV’s student-led creative writing club CreWri launched the first of their two precise poetry workshops, focusing specifically on villanelles. A villanelle is a poem consisting of 19 lines and two rhymes and the club’s president, Jessica Milliken, came up with the idea to host the workshop after taking a form poetry class and falling in love with the unique style.
“There is a stigma in poetry around forms and how confusing and complicated they can be,” she said. However Milliken thinks that the restriction that comes with form poetry works as a good way to release creativity and she wants to help bring that to other writers.
The club was started by Milliken and a few of her friends in the creative writing program. They’ve had fantasy writing workshops, writer’s block workshops, and now poetry workshops. Also, the club plans to have public speaking workshops in the near future. “Part of being a writer is reading, and the whole performance aspect of it is quite intimidating,” Milliken said.
Milliken was prompted to start the club and workshops as a way for students in the creative writing program to get involved outside of their classes. “I was sitting down last summer and I was just thinking about all of the things that I’ve missed or haven’t got a chance to do in the creative writing program,” she said. “The program itself isn’t lacking, it’s simply that once you’re dismissed from your class or you finish your semester, that’s the end of it.” CreWri’s main goal is to bring new forms of creative writing to people, and to connect writers within the UFV community.
CreWri is now preparing to host their second poetry workshop in the series, this time focusing on sonnets. Like the villanelle workshop, Milliken will share some of the history behind the form, different examples of sonnets, and provide worksheets. As for more club events, the club is planning on having another reading near to the end of the semester where writers can practice their public speaking skills and share some of their own creations. The club is also planning to host another Writer’s Block Party, where writers can bring any kind of their work, whether it be poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or even assignments or essays. Milliken added that sometimes she will throw in a random writing prompt that everyone has to stop and work on.
Precise Poetry: Sonnets is taking place from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22 in room S3103. More information is available on CreWri’s Facebook page.
