Tag: Ann Arbor

The Persona Poem

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Our May Workshop focuses on the Persona Poem. The Zoom meeting for the Persona Poem Workshop will be on May 27th at 7 PM Eastern Time, so it’s time to visit the workshop page, read the material, and start your homework. Of course, anyone is welcome to review the material and work on this project at their leisure, even if they don’t plan to attend the virtual meeting. You’ll find all of the information HERE.

You must register separately for this event. If you plan to attend and want to share your work on-screen, send it to us at cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com by 4 PM the day of the meeting.

What Is a Persona Poem?

A persona poem is written in the voice of someone (or something) other than the poet. It’s a deliberate act of imaginative embodiment—stepping into another consciousness to explore emotional, historical, or conceptual terrain that the poet cannot access directly.

Persona poems can:

  • Reveal hidden or marginalized perspectives
  • Reinterpret historical or mythic figures
  • Animate objects, animals, or abstract forces
  • Allow emotional distance—or emotional intensity—through mask and voice
  • Expand the poet’s range of diction, syntax, and worldview

The persona poem is not about impersonation; it’s about inhabiting a voice to discover what only that voice can say.

John Jeffire / July 23, 2025

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John Jeffire
John Jeffire

John Jeffire is the Detroit author of two novels and three poetry collections. His novel Motown Burning won the 2005 Mount Arrowsmith Novel Competition and the 2007 Independent Publishing Awards Gold Medal for Regional Fiction.  In 2022, his novel River Rouge won the American Writing Award for Legacy Fiction. His recent poetry collection is A Temple for Tomorrows. 

John’s recorded reading is now part of the archives on our YouTube channel.


Anita Skeen / June 25, 2025

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Anita Skeen is the author of six volumes of poetry, including collaborations with visual artists such as The Unauthorized Audubon (2014), a collection of poems about imaginary birds accompanied by the linocuts of anthropologist/visual artist Laura B. DeLind. A professor in the Residential College of Michigan State University, Anita is director of its Center for Poetry.

Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com for Zoom link.

The link will be sent via email a day or two before the event. The reading will be followed by an open mic. Participants are welcome to read a poem of their own or a favorite. If you have attended an event in the past two years, you are already registered.
Your hosts: Ed Morin, David Jibson and Lissa Perrin.
All times are Eastern Time Zone

Naomi Shihab Nye / May 28, 2025

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Naomi Shihab Nye


May 28 – Naomi Shihab Nye – Palestinian-American writer, editor and educator, grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, TX.  Teaches at Texas State University, has been Young People’s Poet Laureate for the U.S., poetry editor for New York Times magazine and The Texas Observer, visiting writer in 100+ schools and communities all over the world. She has written or edited 30+ books, most recently Grace Notes – Poems About Families.

Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com for Zoom link.

The link will be sent via email a day or two before the event. The reading will be followed by an open mic. Participants are welcome to read a poem of their own or a favorite. If you have attended an event in the past two years, you are already registered.
Your hosts: Ed Morin, David Jibson and Lissa Perrin.
All times are Eastern Time Zone

Colleen Alles and Jeff Gundy – November 29.

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JeffGundyJeff Gundy has published eight books of poems including Without a Plea, Abandoned Homeland, and Somewhere Near Defiance, for which he was named Ohio Poet of the Year. His latest prose book is Wind Farm: Landscape with Stories and Towers. Former Fulbright lecturer at U. of Salzburg, he’s now Writer in (Non)residence at Bluffton University.

ColleenAllesColleen Alles is a native Michigander and award-winning writer living in Grand Rapids. The author of two novels and a poetry collection, she’s also a contributing editor with Great Lakes Review and Barren Magazine. She enjoys distance running and corralling her kiddos. You can find her online at http://www.colleenalles.com.

7:00 PM – 8:45 PM, Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com for Zoom link.
The link will be sent via email a day or two before the event. The reading will be followed by an open mic. Participants are welcome to read a poem of their own or a favorite.
If you have attended an event in the past two years, you are already registered.
Your hosts: Ed Morin, David Jibson and Lissa Perrin

John Hoppenthaler – September 27, 2023

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JohnHoppenthalerJohn Hoppenthaler has had four books of poetry published by Carnegie Mellon U. Press, including Night Wing Over Metropolitan Area—due out this October. Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at East Carolina University, he also serves on the Advisory Board for Backbone Press, specializing in publication and promotion of marginalized voices.  

7:00 PM – 8:45 PM, Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com for Zoom link.
The link will be sent via email a day or two before the event.
If you have attended one of our events in the past two years, you are already registered.
The reading will be followed by an open mic. Participants are welcome to read a poem of their own or a favorite.
Your hosts: Ed Morin, David Jibson and Lissa Perrin

December 1, 2021 / Judith McCombs & Molly Spencer

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A twin bill for our monthly reading on a special date (due to Thanksgiving)

Wednesday, December 1, 2021
7 – 8:30 PM Via Zoom
Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com to request the meeting link.
Link will be emailed to you the day before the event.
Featured reader is followed my open mic.
Missed it? See it on YouTube.


JudithMcCombsJudith McCombs grew up nomadic in a geodetic surveyor’s family. Her poems appear in Poetry, Shenandoah, Nimrod, and in five books including The Habit of Fire: Poems Selected & New. She has taught at Wayne State U. and in the Washington, D.C. area. She received awards from Michigan and Maryland State Arts Councils

MollySpencerMolly Spencer has recent poems published in Blackbird, Los Angeles Review, and Prairie Schooner. She is the author of the poetry collections If the House, winner of the Brittingham Prize, and Hinge, winner of the Crab Orchard Open Competition. She teaches writing at the University of Michigan. 

 

Esperanza Cintrón / July 22, 2020

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July 22 – Esperanza Cintrón is author of three books of poetry: Visions of a Post-Apocalyptic Sunrise, the Naomi Long Madgett Award-winning What Keeps Me Sane, and Chocolate City Latina. Her interconnected stories of Shades, Detroit Love Stories, was published by WSU Press. She has recent work in Manteca! An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets.

This event will be held online via Zoom. Email cwpoetrycircle@gmail.com to request the meeting link. Link will be emailed to you the day before the event.

Featured reader is followed my open mic.

Donovan Hohn – April 22, 2020

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April 22 – Donovan Hohn will read on Earth Day. He’s author of Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, a New York Times Notable Book and runner-up for two major awards. His essays appear in Harper’s, Lapham’s Quarterly, and Best Creative Nonfiction. His The Inner Coast: Essays, is forthcoming.

Featured reader is followed by an open mic. All events take place in the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room from 7-8:30 pm.