Sunday, May 9, 2021

Queer Poetry Workshop!

 

Queer Poetry Workshop

*An eight-week class*

with Colleen McKee

 

*About the workshop

 

In an environment of honesty and encouragement, queer writers of all levels of experience will stretch their poetic muscles. We’ll try a variety of topics, moods, and structures. We’ll explore what it means to write poetry that can celebrate as well as mourn, be silly as well as serious, that honors the body yet is intellectual. We will also explore the process of writing, what hinders us and what pushes us further. To help us explore new directions and unknown strengths, we’ll use the book The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux.  

 

In addition, we’ll learn about the history of queer poets and their poetry. As we only have 8 weeks, we’ll focus on writers who have lived in the U.S., writers from different backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, culture, age, gender/gender expression, sexual orientation, region, and country of origin. We’ll mostly study writers of the 20th and 21st centuries, brave poets who tried different styles and who belong/ed to various poetic schools or circles. So we’ll read work from Word of Mouth: An Anthology of Gay American Poetry, edited by Timothy Liu, as well as poems we can find online at Lavender Review, a queer women’s literary journal, and possibly other work online.  

 

(What do I mean by queer? Gay, lesbian, bisexual/pansexual, transgender, gender non-binary, etc…)

 

The class is limited to four students.

 

*About the instructor

 

Colleen Shoshana McKee earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where she taught English, and Gender Studies, including classes on queer literature and creative writing. Her 20 years of teaching experience also includes many small creative writing workshops for adults. She is the author of 6 books of poetry, memoir, and fiction. Her latest collection of poetry, Routine Bloodwork, was aa finalist for the Charlotte Mew Award from Headmistress Press, a queer women’s press.

 

*Class details

 

~ Sundays, 12-2 pm. (with a 10-min. break)

~ Meets online (Zoom or Google Meet) from May 30th-July 18th, 2021

~ Tuition Cost: $280 (ask if you need an installment plan)

~ For more information or to register for the class, contact Colleen Shoshana at 314.898.8289, at misscolleenmckee@yahoo.com, or on Facebook.

 

Upcoming Reading

MoonDrop Equinox

Wed., June 19th, 6 p.m.

The Cascades, Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland

Free, books for sale.

Authors whose books were released during quarantine will read from their work. There will also be snacks and music available TBA.   



Friday, May 15, 2020

New Book!




Routine Bloodwork, Finalist for the Charlotte Mew Prize from Headmistress Press!


This chapbook was released just before the quarantine, so our exciting Oakland book launch at E.M. Wolfman and fabulous San Francisco book launch at Dog Eared Books Castro are postponed TBA. 

However, the chapbook is still available from these websites:

Headmistress Press at headmistresspress.blogspot.com
Amazon

And these bookstores in San Francisco, which are open:

Globus Books
Dog Eared Books Castro

One may also contact me directly at misscolleenmckee@yahoo.com to buy it directly from me. 


What do the critics have to say about it?

"My heart is not a dove. There is nothing/peaceful about it," declares the speaker in "The Pigeon." Accordingly, we see the airports, schedules, and trysts that attend this restlessness. A beautifully crafted villanelle, "The Wayside Inn," anchors this chapbook and the lovers in a temporary harbor."

     --Robin Becker, judge of the Charlotte 

       Mew Prize and author of The Black Bear
       Inside Me

"Fierce, funny, wise, and particular, Colleen McKee's poems speak of love and loss across cities and bodies where the mind is a dryer set on 'maximum setting,' and the words of a 'mean, cute, crazy ex...ricochet' across the heart like a cascade of balls in a pinball machine. Like the most brazen of tightrope walkers, Routine Bloodwork crackles and delights."

     --Hugh Behm-Steinberg, author of Animal 
       Children

"Although I have long admired Colleen McKee's prose and verse collections--her poems, memoirs, and stories--this is the book we've been waiting for: a complete, sustained collection of verse from a poet both technically gifted and passionate. It's sexy, witty, unnerving, tragic, and joyous. I love it."

     --Lee Foust, author of Inbetween




Monday, September 3, 2018

Where to Find My Other Books During Quarantine


The Kingdom of Roly-Polys and Routine Bloodwork are now available at the following fine locations:

Dog Eared Books Castro, San Francisco
Globus Books, San Francisco
     (both are open for browsing)
Live Worms Gallery, North Beach, San Francisco

Routine Bloodwork is also available through Amazon and Headmistress Press: Routine Bloodwork by Colleen McKee | Welcome to Headmistress Store (square.site)


Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak About Healthcare in America, co-edited with Amanda Crowell Stiebel, is still available through Amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/Are-We-Feeling-Better-Yet/dp/0976067528/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535998165&sr=1-1&keywords=are+we+feeling+better+yet

Friday, August 17, 2018

Past Appearances


Perfectly Queer: Great Gift Books!
Tues., Dec. 11th, 2018, 7 p.m.
Dog-Eared Books in the Castro
489 Castro St., San Francisco

Hosted by Wayne Goodman and Richard May
Reading with Sumiko Saulson and Jim 
    Provenzano
Free admission.Books for sale. 


11th Annual Beat Museum Poetry    Festival
Sat., Sept. 29th or Sun., Sept.    30th

The Beat Museum
540 Broadway, San Francisco

Two days of poetry and music, hosted by 
Corman-Roberts and Fred Dodsworth. (I will
read on one of these days--day and time
TBA.)
List of readers TBA.
Free with museum admission ($5 for students
and seniors, $8 for other adults). Booksfor sale.     
http://www.kerouac.com/beat_event/11th-annual-beat-museum-poetry-festival/  


Alt Beast
Sat., Oct. 6th, 12-5 p.m.
Mosswood Park, Oakland
Near MacArthur BART
  
Reading times for writers (including me) TBA.
Collectives and authors include: Association
   of Black and Brown Writers, hosted by
   Vernon Keeve III; Be About It Press, 
   hosted by Alexandra Naughton, with Jesse
   Prado and Riss Rosado; Rag Zine, with
   editor Cassandra Rockwood-Rice, Audrey T.
   Williams, Amos White, Sharon Coleman, 
   Laura Close; The Intrinsically Difficult
   Collective, curated by Alex Smith; Paul
   Corman-Roberts, and others TBA.
https://www.facebook.com/events/230645357604235/

On the Cusp at Litquake SF
Sat., Oct. 20th, 5 p.m.
Dalva
3121 16th St, San Francisco


Hosted by Allison Landa
With other writers TBA
Free. Drinks and books for sale
http://dalvasf.com/
https://www.litquake.org/


Friday, February 16, 2018

Spring and Summer Appearances

Reading with Lee Foust, moderated by David 
     Orr
Tues., Mar. 27th, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
St. Mark's Florence, Italy
Via Maggio 16, 50125 Firenze

Free; books for sale


Reading at William Taylor Jr.'s book launch      for From the Essential Handbook on 
    Making It to the Next Whatever
Fri., Apr. 6th, time TBA
The Beat Museum, 540 Broadway, San Francisco

Cassandra Dallett will also read.
Free; books for sale. 

Featured reader at Poetry Express
Mon., July 23rd, 7 p.m.
Himalayan Flavors, 1585
     University Ave., Downtown
     Berkeley 

Also includes an open mic.
Free. Dinner and books for sale. 

Rolling Writers--Love
Sat., July 28th, 6 p.m.
Rolling Out Bakery, 
1722 Taraval St., San Francisco

It's R-Dub Love, Rolling Writers’ evening of lit and music on romantic love. Featuring Anna Allen, Book Of Jones, Michael Crabtree, Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Sarah HaBa, 
B Lynn Goodwin, Colleen McKee, Carina Mifuel, Sarah Paris, Sandra Wassilie, and Wax Moon.


Free. Food, drinks, and books for sale. 

Flash Fiction Forum
Wed., Aug. 8th, 7 p.m.
Works Gallery
365 South Market St., San Jose


Authors and Works 
1.      Hugh Behm-Steinberg, “Bibles” published in Atticus Review.
2.      Colleen Mckee, “The 59 Cent Pad of Paper” published at MemoirPool.com 
3.      Jade Bradbury, “What’s Sauce for the Goose”
4.      Elizabeth Nguyen, “T-T-T-Telephone”
5.      Sarah Hinkle, “Family Aptitude Test”
6.      Lita Kurth, “Bed Bath and Beyoncé
7.      Anne Sconberg, “Gin and Thin”

Intermission

8.      Bob Dickerson, “Stagecraft”
9.      Tarn Wilson, “A Single Mother’s Survival Guide: Money”
10.   Rob Pesich, “Apologies to “Caenorhabditis elegans”
11.   Michelle Myers, “Hair”
12.   Tara Ganguly, “Yes I’m Getting a Puppy”
13.   Bill Kalogeros, “Flight Behavior”
14.   Jared Nardone, “Number of Life” published in Red Wheelbarrow2018
15.   Heidi Eisips. “Mechoniot” (Cars)

Free; beer & soda for sale.