The first weekend of Beyond Academia Free Skool Summer Poetry Camp has passed and it was a mixed bag of emotions…

June 30th

A riotous inspiring good time reading Richard Brautigan’s June 30th, June 30th on Pearl Street with Rob Geisen.

July 1st

Outside at Boulder Writers Warehouse along the North Boulder Farmers Ditch, the BAFS class was privy to both a productive review of the importance of audience in our “poems for change,” led by Clint Locks and an enlivening review of the nature of Flash Fiction by Nancy Stohlman in preparation for her first Sculpting Flash Fiction class for BAFS.

July 2nd

Again at Boulder Writers Warehouse, the BAFS tribe was shocked by news of the death of local poet and good man, Jack Collom, and took the morning slow during Marcus If’s class Chop Shop 1, discussing his editing techniques while writing verb songs and sharing memories of Jack. More folks showed up for Jack’s first planned BAFS class and shared more memories. We finished the day by sending funerary barges down the Farmers Ditch with letters to Jack written on the sails.

July 3rd

After an overview and discussion on the women of the beat generation led by Pamela Twining (of Woodstock, NY), the BAFS crew enjoyed the So You’re a Poet Open Mic at Laughing Goat featuring Pamela and Andy Clausen (who will be teaching on the power of place at the Love Shovel Ranch on July 9th).

What’s Next?

Quite the Introductory Weekend to Beyond Academia Free Skool’s Summer Poetry Camp. If you’ve missed the first part, do not fret. There are Many More FREE Poetry Workshops Coming Up! Check out the full schedule for poetry camp at

www.loveshovelranch.com/bafs/swp17.

Come up this Saturday and catch Ira Liss and Marcus If teaching classes on Poetry in Performance. Or come next week for the two days of yoga and contemplative poetics taught by Roseanna Frechette and June Lucarotti. Better yet, quit your dayjob and come up to the Shovel for the whole week, July 7th-17th! There’s at least one workshop a day, on such topics as Poetry as Spellcasting, the political nature of poetry, rewriting the love poem and more!