Workshop·Live, one to one·Two classes · two hours
Seven opening lines
Two live meetings, one to one. The times are arranged with you. The first line is treated as a door: each kind promises something and charges a cost. Three openings of the same text are tried, and one is kept.
The first line decides whether the reader enters.
Ground
An opening is not an ornament. It promises a way of being in the poem, and it costs something.
Aim
- Recognize different kinds of opening line, and what each one promises.
- Try at least three openings of the same text.
- Keep one, and be able to say why.
It trains
Choose how the poem begins.
Contents
1The door
1.1You enter or you do not
The first line decides whether the reader continues.
1.2Not decoration
It promises a way of being in the poem.
1.3It has a cost
What it opens on one side, it closes on the other.
2Seven ways
2.1See them
The seven, in examples, not in a loose definition.
2.2What they promise
Each opening tells the reader what is going to happen.
2.3Which one serves
There is no best one. There is one that fits this text.
3Three tries
3.1The same text
Three different first lines, one idea.
3.2Read them
Aloud, you hear which one enters and which one stays outside.
3.3Choose
You keep one and you can say why.
Questions
Do I have to memorize the seven?
No. They are seen in the class, and three are used on your own text.
Is it a video?
No. It is live, one to one. The times are arranged by email.
Does it serve if the poem is already underway?
Yes. The work is the entrance, not starting from zero.
What if I don't think of myself as a poet?
You don't have to. The work is a text of yours. A short draft is enough. If there is no poem, one sentence is enough.
It is live, one to one, on Zoom. The time is arranged by email.
Next workshop: The hook.
After one tool, the next step is the 15-minute call, or group mentorship. Book the call · See how to continue