Sundress Academy for the Arts Presents May Poetry Xfit

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present Poetry Xfit hosted by Darren C. Demaree. This generative workshop event will take place on Sunday, May 18th, from 2 to 4 pm EST via Zoom. Join us at the link tiny.utk.edu/sundress with the password “safta”.

Poetry Xfit isn’t about throwing tires or heavy ropes, but the idea of confusing our muscles is the same. You will receive ideas, guidelines, and more as part of this generative workshop series in order to complete three poems in two hours. A new set of prompts will be provided after the writers have written collaboratively for thirty minutes. The goal is to create material that can be later modified and transformed into artwork rather than producing flawless final versions. The event is open to prose authors as well!

Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-three poetry collections, most recently So Much More (Small Harbor Publishing 2024). He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Art Council Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently working in the Columbus Metropolitan Library system. 

While this is a free event, donations can be made to the Sundress Academy for the Arts here.

Each month we split donations with a community partner. Our community partner of the month is Humanities Tennessee. Humanities Tennessee is a non-profit organization working to foster communities that encourage reflection on history, culture, art, and stories. They also work to support public humanities programming by coordinating with grants and media partnerships to provide resources and content to approximately 500,000 Tennesseans every year. Humanities Tennessee commits to celebrating the power of stories in striving for an equitable Tennessee by promoting collaboration, empowerment, community, and equity.

This event is brought to you in part by grants provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission.