This is just a little announcement that I will be teaching an online poetry workshop starting this Monday (April 6th, 2015) through The Rooster Moans, an online poetry cooperative that offers affordable, high quality and professionally-run workshops (www.poetrycoop.com). Writers of all levels are welcome. This will be a month-long, intensive workshop focused on poetry influenced by the world of film and and only one seat remains open! Weekly prompts and lectures will be posted and many opportunities will be provided to flex those poetic muscles.

You need not be a film expert to discover how the world of the movies can become a rich source for poetry making of all different kinds. We will discuss how the atmosphere of film—that unique mingling of sound, photography, writing and acting—creates an especially apt springboard for poems. Workshop participants will explore the difference between writing “about” the movies (their plot and characters) and writing “from” the world of the movies (letting a film’s atmosphere feed the imagery, texture, “logic” and sound-play in a poem). A range of film genres will be sampled and explored so as to encourage participants to engage with film-watching and their poetry writing in new and stimulating ways. Detailed feedback will be offered on all the poems participants write. Feel free to check out this workshop yourself through the link that follows or to share this information with anyone who you feel may be interested: Poetry and Film Workshop

As a recent contributor to the literary journal, 32Poems, I had the opportunity to comment on a fellow poet's piece in that same issue (Vol. 12.2). I had the pleasure of spending some time with Cecily Parks' playful, smart and original "Aubade with Bicycle."

An aubade is a love poem and a song or lament for the morning. Parks is able to weave deftly (and with some humor) all three aspects of the aubade into her taut, musically rich poem. I loved being able to dive more deeply into her piece. My "marginalia" on her poem and the poem itself follow. I hope you enjoy this poetic "ride":http://www.32poems.com/32-poems-blogroll.

Also, you may take a peek at my own poem, "Lost Earring," published in the same issue of 32Poems: "Lost Earring."

One of my poems, "Lost Earring," published recently in the journal 32Poems, is the focus of a smart, playful and thought-provoking commentary, written by fellow poet, Hannah Stephenson. This gloss of my poem is the feature post on the 32Poems Blog this week. Read on to enjoy Hannah's explorations of that most mischievous of conjunctions "and".  Also partake of my prose poem's meditation on coordinating conjunctions, earrings (lost or otherwise), Rothko and oddly-shaped Spanish cheeses: "Poet's Math"

I have had the pleasure of having four of my poems published in the Jet Fuel Review out of Chicago. These poems are a part of their Fall 2014 issue. I was quite crazed this fall moving from Stony Brook, NY to San Antonio, TX, so this was welcome news for this poet! Read on if you are in a poetry mood on a cold and nippy January day (it is even gray and nippy here in San Antonio!). One of the poems features the Caribbean, if that is an incentive, another a summer backdrop. I also have one on sleep, if that seems more apt: http://www.jetfuelreview.com/previous-issues/issue-8-fall-2014/poetry/alexandra-van-de-kamp/

Film-Infused Workshop

I am teaching an online poetry workshop starting July 7th for a month this summer on Film and Poetry. You need not be a film expert to enjoy and revel in the world of the moving image. The playful, mesmerizing world of the movies is an especially apt "playground" for poets and has a rich history. This workshop will explore how cinema and our own movie-watching experiences can intersect with and feed our poetry. I am teaching it through The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative, which offers reasonably-priced, high-caliber online poetry workshops at a friendly price. Reading up for this workshop, I found out Jean Cocteau, who I primarily know as a French, surreal film-maker from the 1920's, 30's and 40's, was first a poet and playwright. I have always found his rendition of Beauty and the Beast especially captivating and dream-like. I had not known before watching his film, that Beauty and the Beast was originally a French Folk Tale, or so I believe.

Feel free to check out the link below for my film-infused poetry workshop and to spread the word: Film-Infused poetry Workshop

Two New Poems in Rose Red Review

I am excited that two of my poems have been recently published in Rose Red Review--a dynamic online journal that offers an array of poetry, fiction, visual art and more. I was first introduced to this journal by Diane Lockward, a wonderful poet, who mentioned it in her lively, extremely informative blog on poetry and daily life called Blogalicious.

So if you feel like dipping into a little poetry today, here are the two poems currently on view (that makes them sound like a pair of shoes or an evening dress in a department store window, doesn't it?) at Rose Red Review. The first poem is called "I've Decided to Write the Greatest Poem in the World" (which, of course, I knew was an impossible task, and I chose this title partly for its absurdity). However, It found it a fun poetic premise or task to take on.

The other poem: "A Scandinavian Hotel in Couplets" was basically given to me in a dream. Consider it a surreal, slightly weird take on the family reunion tradition. But, yes, my subconscious put me into this strange hotel with most (if not all) of my family members--all of us adults now and somewhat grappling with where we were in life. I feel like I merely painted out in words the images I had been surrounded by in this dream. Feel free to visit this "hotel," if you feel like reading a second poem.

I have recently had the pleasure of having one of my poems published in the poetry journal 32 Poems,which offers a wonderful, intelligent selection of poems--none of which can be longer than 32 lines! As a contributor to the spring/summer 2013 issue, I had the opportunity to be a guest blogger for one week and to comment on one of the fellow poets published alongside me in the recent issue. I chose an imaginative, richly-textured poem written by Sarah Crossland.

If you enjoyed as a child the dream-like plot of the movie The Wizard of Oz, I suggest you read Crossland's poem "The Tin Man Full of Bees" and my musings on it.

Just click the hyperlink and enjoy!

http://www.32poems.com/blog/6605/spells-realized