Something Else is Alive -- free writing workshop!

I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.
-- from "The Thought Fox" by Ted Hughes

Are you free as a bird Monday evening? Good!

The Little Patuxent Review has invited me to lead one of their wonderful literary salons. It's at the Columbia Association Art Center -- Monday, May 10, 7:30-8:30 PM.

My workshop is "Something Else is Alive": The Power of Animal Metaphors.

Here's the description:

What makes animal  metaphors an enduring and powerful part of literature?

Some fictional villains slither like a snake or prowl like a wolf. Conflicts can make a novel's protagonist retreat into her shell like a turtle. Authors as varied as children's novelist Kate DiCamillo, fantasy author J.K. Rowling, John Updike and poet Ted Hughes use animals in their work to express deeper truths.

Bring an animal totem, a favorite animal poem or a related piece of prose to share and discuss. Be prepared to write. Teens are welcome!

I'll be signing my chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, (here's a review) after the salon.

The C/A Arts Center is located at 6100 Foreland Garth, Columbia, MD 21045.