Find the music in your poetry at free March 4 workshop in Cheyenne

Poet and musician Jim Coppoc will give a free public workshop on Sunday, March 4, from 2-4 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library in downtown Cheyenne. The workshop will focus on bringing out the musicality in poems. Anyone interested in writing and performing poetry is welcomed to attend.

Coppoc, a poet, spoken-word artist and musician from Ames, Iowa, teaches English and American Studies at Iowa State University and creative writing in the low residency M.F.A. program at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Balancing poetry, pedagogy, play writing, music and performance in his varied career, Coppoc’s publications include Manhattan Beatitude, 1997 (One Small Bird Press, 2010), Reliquary (Fractal Edge Press, 2010), and Blood, Sex & Prayer (Fractal Edge Press, 2005). Coppoc received four Pushcart Prize nominations in 2011.

Jim is in town to serve as a judge for the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud state competition that will take place in Cheyenne on Monday and Tuesday, March 5-6.

The competition begins at 7 p.m. Monday at the Historic Atlas Theater in downtown Cheyenne. Joining Coppoc as judges are Pat Frolander, Wyoming Poet laureate from Crook County, and writer and arts educator Diane Panozzo from Tie Siding, Wyo. It’s free and open to the public. Come out and see some great poetry recitation by some talented high schoolers from around the state.