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Framing Your Poem

Title, First and Last Lines as the Poem’s Framework

Craft talk and workshop, open to all levels of experience

In this generative and critique workshop, we’ll begin by discussing the craft of framing a poem and consider poems that illustrate how an effective title, opening, and closing lines create an inviting and memorable poem. Participants are welcome to bring a poem they wish to revise for constructive feedback focused on these three framework features. We will also draft new work in response to prompts and have an opportunity to share this work with the group. If you would like feedback on a poem, please plan to bring ten copies of one one-page poem to the workshop.

Barbara Sabol is the author of seven books, most recently Mapping the Borderlands (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2025). She was named the 2024 Ohio Poet of the Year for her book, WATERMARK: Poems of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Alternating Current Press). Barbara won the Sheila-Na-Gig Editions poetry contest in 2019 for her book, Imagine a Town, and went on to become the associate editor of Sheila-Na-Gig online.  Her work has been supported by the Ohio Arts Council. Barbara lives in Akron, Ohio, close to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park whose trails she knows by heart.