@oxpoetrylibrary
Community-powered poetry in Oxford. Workshops, events, open mics and a lending library of poetry open on Saturdays from 12pm-3pm. Entirely volunteer-run. Currently based at The Community Works, 21 Park End St, OX1 1HU https://linktr.ee/oxfordpoetrylibrary
Our mentor-a-thon is this month! Haven't booked yet? What are you waiting for!
A once-a-year opportunity to be mentored by award-winning and widely published poets, Vanessa Lampert and Tina Sederholm, at a price you name!
Reading Circle is back this month on Saturday 21st March! Join us from 2-4pm at The Community Works for our friendly, peer-led poetry reading group.
Full details and link to register your spot below...
The workshop will be online on the 14th of March, at 2pm. Tickets are available here at a range of price points: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-...
See you there!
In a week's time, we'll be back with our monthly workshop on poetic form: all the tricky conventions which give our words a shape.
Come join us at The Shape of Poetry, where writers of all skill levels will pick apart a poem together, then place a personal spin on its pattern by writing one!
We'll be meeting online on the 14th March at 2-4pm and exploring another new form: getting our teeth into an example, pulling it apart together, and writing our own work.
Tickets are available here at a range of price points, or at the link in our bio: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-...
She understands her work as relating to quatrains, "kicking over the traces" of the church hymn form. Each enjambement a rejection of end-stopped rhyme.
To push something away, you first understand where to kick. So join us at The Shape of Poetry to Come, and find yourself a poetic punchbag!
Form can be an invisible reference - a not doing.
Despite writing only in fee verse, Sharon Olds considers herself a formal poet. To her, It's the choice to avoid or subvert existing forms that create this relationship.
Are you looking for a sign to take your own writing seriously? Start pulling together a collection, work on your performance game, or just want to fine-tune a couple poems? Book your slot at the MENTOR-A-THON on 28 Mar with Tina Sederholm and Vanessa Lampert! tinyurl.com/OPLmentorathon
And if you're looking for a ginger shot of open-mic goodness to hold off the cold and rainy weather, why not join us next Tuesday for This Is Just To Say?
7:30pm at the usual place (Community Works Oxford), or 7:00 if you'd like to read. This month's theme is ~*ABUNDANCE*~. See you there!
UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, we've had to cancel this week's Hip Crowd.
Our apologies to anyone planning to join us on Friday. But we'll be back next month with another family-friendly thang!
TOMORROW! (magical) Laura Theis @lauratheis.bsky.social will be the featured poet for the Drafting Table Sunday session. Join us at OPL from 1 – 3pm for another wonderful, interactive workshop.
Email opldraftingtable@gmail.com with any queries. See you there!
THIS IS JUST TO SAY is back on Tuesday 3rd March! Twist: our featured performer will be ~*~everybody~*~. That's right - a bumper crop. Rather than a featured slot, we're cramming in as many performers as we can and celebrating the community we've got here.
Theme is ABUNDANCE. See you there!
Ever felt intimidated by reading poetry, and no idea where to start? Looking for some fresh inspiration and to read some poems you've never encountered before? Wanna kick some poetic ideas around in a friendly, welcoming environment?
Reading Circle is BACK this Sat, 2pm in The Community Works:
TOMORROW: The Shape of Poetry is back for its Feb edition, digging into another poetic form and helping you find the treasure buried inside.
Tickets are still available, so grab them through the link, and we'll see you at 2pm - bring your shovel! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-...
TONIGHT! Getting Started With Poetry returns: get your FREE tickets here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/getting-st...
This group is for those keen to start a writing practice with a friendly community. We can't recommend it enough!
How's that new year's resolution to read more going? Let's do something about that. Join us on 20 Feb at 2pm for Reading Circle, our chilled, inclusive workshop all about reading poetry and talking about it. Full details and link for tickets: oxfordpoetrylibrary.com/event/the-re...
Whether you're a veteran sonnet-ist, or if you've never even been near a haiku, you're welcome to come along!
Grab your ticket online: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-shape-...
Next week, we're diving back into formal poetry, in our monthly workshop series exploring the rhythms and rhymes that structure can offer.
Join us next Saturday 14th Feb (at 2pm) for The Shape of Poetry, where we'll pick a form, dive into an exemplar, and learn how to write one for ourselves.
TOMORROW! This Is Just To Say is back at 7 for 7.30pm, The Community Works, OX1 1HH. Holly Moberley is joining us as featured poet and their chosen theme is CREATURE — be creepy and crawly, or a 'kinder parasite.' More details on our website: oxfordpoetrylibrary.com/event/this-i... see you there!
A week remains to sign up for Getting Started With Poetry, our workshop series for beginners! All poets start somewhere: let it be here. We don't bite.
FREE tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/getting-st...
This February! Don't miss Reading Circle, our lovely, cosy, wholesome, and inclusive space for reading poetry together, chatting informally about it, and general hanging out and meeting other peole who like poetry. Simple as that. 21 February, a fiver a ticket, more info here:
At TSoP, poets of all skill levels come together to dig into a poetic form, exploring an example poem and then spending some time to write our own, with an opportunity to share.
Our next digital workshop is on Feb the 14th, online, from 2-4pm. Research the formal foe by grabbing your tickets below.
With that in mind, it's good to know what you're fighting. And those who train hard, fight easy. So why not come to The Shape of Poetry, OPL's premier formal poetry workshop, and get to know your enemy: find their Achilles Heel, and understand their strongest technique?
Writing a poem can be a fight. But who or what are you fighting with?
Billy Collins says that committing to a form allows the poem to start "pushing back": "good poems are often the result of that kind of wrestling with the form."
Announcing an exciting new opportunity! Want in-depth personalized feedback on your poetry? Join us on 28 March, 1pm-4pm for our MENTOR-A-THON with Tina Sederholm and Vanessa Lampert! Full info, including link to book your slot here: oxfordpoetrylibrary.com/event/mentor-a-thon/
Tomorrow! Come dream with us... 7.30pm 31 January at The Community Works. Bring work to share if you like, or just your listening ears and an open mind to float away on a poetic cloud ✨ ☁️
REMINDER: Tomorrow, we're getting cosy down at the Community Works! Join us at 11:30 (11:00 for performers). Bring your brightest candle (stanza, story, or song), and we'll travel together away from the longer nights. Also please bring £5, or £2 for concessions, or no money at all for performers.
A week next Monday! Getting Started With Poetry, our workshop series for beginners at The Community Works, returns. Now is always the time to try writing poetry; we promise you won't regret it. Attendance is free, but we ask that you sign up to track numbers: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/getting-st...
This week! Don't miss our special event, Poetic Dreamscapes in a World of Broken Sleep. Dreamy poetry by 3 fabulous writers, plus an open mic segment for YOU to share your work. 31 January 7.30pm at The Community Works. Full details at the link below...
and is currently touring a sea-shanty and poetry show on CPR & the drowning girl motif. ‘Kinder Parasites’, published by Broken Sleep Books in Oct 2025, is her debut pamphlet."