Hard-Assed Poetry Workshop With Ken Fifer

Ken Fifer 's poetry collections include After Fire, Ash, Water Presents, The Moss That Rides on the Back of the Rock, Falling Man, and Caravaggio’s Kimono. His poems have appeared in magazines and journals, including Barrow Street, New Letters, The Literary Review, and Ploughshares. He has a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from The University of Michigan. He has taught and read at conferences, poetry festivals, and universities, both nationally and internationally. There's no telling where he's been.

This is what Gerald Stern had to say about Caravaggio's Kimono. 

What I admire about these poems is the knowledge they contain, a knowledge based on a life lived, and a life examined, which leads to wisdom, if grief. What I admire even more is their tenderness, their love for the world that is, after all, disappearing because of our folly, because of what we do. What I admire (equally, equally) is the delightful way they are put together. These poems deserve a wide audience, critics and lovers both.

What Carol says: He knows what he’s doing. He writes a very specific kind of lyric poetry. He talks intensely about the poem. Never the poet. But I wouldn’t call him kind. He’s fierce, talented, committed—a poet and an artist. If you get hurt when someone doesn’t like your poem, this group isn’t for you. I don’t lead this group. Ken does. Come if you have some experience being told ‘no’. If you have already braved the submission firing line and come out alive. Come if you want your poetry to get better, and you don’t care if it hurts to get there.

We meet every two weeks, on Sunday at 3pm Eastern time. The meetings last two hours. We meet on Zoom. Once you register, and are accepted, Carol will send you the Zoom link. 

The first session will be on September 21, 2025.

We cover two poems a session. One each from two different poets. Carol keeps the ordering list. You will need to get your poem into Carol so she can email it to the group. Since we meet on a Sunday, you must get your poem into Carol by the previous Monday (noon, Eastern time). If you can’t or don’t, Carol will slot someone else in your place. She’ll remind you. 

Email Carol if you have questions. carol.shillibeer@gmail.com