In this workshop, we will practice mixing our “home” languages with standard English in poems. A “home” language might be a mother tongue other than English, a regional dialect of English, a particular register of English (perhaps generational or professional), and/or special family/community expressions that we feel root us and express where we come from or where we feel a sense of belonging. Together we will read and discuss some published poems that employ language in these ways. Then we will do a poetry writing exercise using individual and community word grids. Limit 100 participants.

Register on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/D_oqbXLASOO1M7f1cLKTFg

Brenda Cárdenas

Current Wisconsin Poet Laureate Brenda Cárdenas has authored Trace (Red Hen Press, 2023), winner of the 2023 Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry and silver winner of Foreword Review’s Indie Poetry Prize; Boomerang (Bilingual Press); and three chapbooks. She also co-edited the anthologies Resist Much/Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance and Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest. Her poems and essays have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Braving the Body, Latinx Poetics: The Art of Poetry, Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Anthology, among others. Cárdenas has also enjoyed collaborating with musicians, composers, visual artists, and choreographers. She is Professor Emerita of English at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee.