Their workshops kick off the library’s celebration of Poetry Month.
Paulson's workshop, “Write Your Heart,” taking place from 3-5 p.m. in the library's community room, is open to the public free of charge; participants should register with the library ahead of time at 970/964-2548.
“As beginning writers, we often hesitate to write about deep feeling,” said Paulson. “When we write from the heart about the people, places, and events we know best, we do our best writing, because it is honest.”
Todd will work with students in Tracy Lightsey's Creative Writing class at Montrose High School; Trommer will also conduct her workshop for middle school students selected by staff at Olathe Middle/High, Centennial, and Columbine schools.
That evening, all three poets will read at 6:30 p.m. in the library's community room, where their books will be available for sale and signing.
Paulson and Trommer released new books in 2009; Todd’s most recent book of poetry was published in 2008.
Paulson lives in Ouray, where she teaches writing and creativity workshops for regional residents; she taught English at California State University Los Angeles for more than 20 years, before that. Her poems have appeared widely in literary magazines and national anthologies, and her work was nominated for the Pushcart Prizes for 2007 and 2009.
In Wild Raspberries, she paints the world with sensual, vivid images, savoring respite from rush and bother by observing nature. For example, in the poem “Weather at 12,000 Feet,” she draws a parallel between the conversation of a fellow hiker who missed signs of an impending divorce, and “hadn't the power to stop” with “a rock unloosed goes its own way until it comes to rest in a new place.”
Todd teaches creative writing at Western State College in Gunnison, and stages and emcees several poetry readings each year. He has performed his poetry on stage throughout the mountain states, on the East Coast, and in Berlin.
Tamped, But Loose Enough to Breathe is Todd's salute to Old West folklore and New West realities. His voice is comfortable, nothing fancy, just the rhythms of regular people in their daily life. Todd tells stories about dogs, and ranchers, and outlaw John Wesley Hardin.
He incorporates numerous poetic forms in his work, from popular free verse to ballads, sestinas and villanelles. He plays with dialect in “Mage” and with humor in “Collimation.”
Trommer divides her time between Placerville and Delta, where she grows organic fruit in the Uncompahgre Valley; she is Poet Laureate of San Miguel County. Her poetry collections have been both a finalist and a winner of the Colorado Independent Press Association Poetry Award.
Intimate Landscape is a collaboration of Trommer's poetry and Claude Steelman's photography. Together, they take the reader into the essence of the Four Corners region of southwestern Colorado.
Lyrical, image-intense observations of the bogs, aspen groves, waterfalls, and weather complement the interrelations among flora, fauna, and people who live here.
Trommer's word-play is delightful. In “The Mudslide Reminds Me,” she notes “I sing, because that is how it is, because at least my blood knows how to be honest, knows how to praise today, sludge-muck and schedule-stuck.”
Steelman's photos are magnificent partners to Trommer's poems.
Other Poetry Month activities include a Slam Poetry for Adults workshop, April 7 or 13, Writers' Open Mic, April 7 or 13, depends which day the Montrose High students can teach the Slam Poetry class. On Monday, April 19, 7 p.m., Susan Palmer will lead a workshop on “How to Write Free Verse.”
Montrose Regional Library is located at 320 South 2nd St.
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