In preparation for National Poetry Month in April, Salina Public Library’s Community Learning
 and Skills Sharing (CLASS) program is offering four poetry writing classes. The classes are scheduled for the first four Tuesdays in March at 6:30 p.m. in the Prescott Room of the library, 301 West Elm Street.Local poets John P. Waterman,
 aka John E. Epic, and Emery Diercks will cover a different genre each week. During the first half of class, students will view poetry performance videos, read poems in the genre together then break down the mechanics of each style through the work of poets
 such as Edgar Allen Poe, Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg, and Asia Greene. The second half of each class will be spent writing poems in the session’s style. Narrative poetry will be covered on March 3, autobiographical on March 10, prose and socially conscious
 poetry on March 17, and spoken word and slam on March 24.Diercks is a spoken word
 poet who speaks up for the disadvantaged, relays her experience of being a mother, and tells truths that open ears. Epic is an existentialist at heart and the author of the novel “Ill Digestions,” picture-book “Such a Little Apple” and numerous poetry books.
 He is currently part of the connected poet highway that stretches from Buffalo, N.Y., to Kansas City, and across the Heartland following Interstate 70 to Denver.Registration in advance
 is required with the deadline on Saturday for the first class. Each meeting costs $10 or participants can register for all four for $35. Visit the McKenzie Center, 308 W. Elm, between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday or go online to
<a href="http://salina.coursestorm.com/" target="_blank">
salina.coursestorm.com</a>.The poetry classes are
 in advance of the 2020 Salina Poetry Series in April, sponsored by the library, Salina Arts &amp; Humanities, SPARK Artist Resource Exchange, and Friends of the Salina Public Library. To find out more about the series, visit
<a href="http://salinapubliclibrary.org/poetry" target="_blank">
salinapubliclibrary.org/poetry</a>.

Library CLASS offering to focus on poetry