Slant is up and running!

I've started a poetry reading series at a local coffee house.  I call it "Slant" ("Tell all the Truth, but tell it slant.." --Emily Dickinson).  It's going beautifully. 

AWW!

I just received word that I will be attending the Appalachian Writers Workshop at the Hindman Settlement School, and I think I'm going to be working on my manuscript with Maurice Manning! I'm overjoyed :)

My New Poetry Blog!

I'm Shawna Kay Benge Rodenberg, an MFA graduate from Bennington, and an Appalachian. I've been writing poems since I was twelve, when I was given the assignment to write a poem by Mrs. Ison at Martha Jane Potter Elementary in Kona, Kentucky. I chose to write a poem about my parents' love story (as my romantic, prepubescent mind chose to imagine it), and I transcribed the poem onto a little notebook I fashioned in a double-wedding-ring motif, and placed it in a basket trimmed with dried flowers and ribbons (overachiever much?) In short, the sentimental little poem (which was all in rhymed couplets) made my teacher weep and made me feel very influential, and I was never the same again. I like writing poetry because I believe in human connections, and that sometimes, when it's really good, poetry can give voice to the mute interiors of our very souls. I'm not much into irony, sarcasm, cynicism, etc.. I like beauty and truth and love (and Ralph Stanley). Welcome!