ALWAYS AT ODDS: MINING CONTRASTS FOR EFFECTIVE POEMS

Sometimes as writers we gravitate toward our good memories, or those that we think are somehow beautiful: how sweet the honeysuckle; how brilliant the sky. At other times, we can’t tear our focus from all that feels wrong in the world, whether that’s violence, exploitation of people and the environment, snarky memes, or an untimely death. 

No matter what turn a poem ultimately takes, we can create more memorable, less predictable writing by elevating our awareness of contrast and ways to incorporate it into our writing. In this session we’ll read work by a few contemporary poets and use those poems as jumping-off places for our own drafts. You’ll leave this session with a draft or two of new poetry or micro-prose. 

Join Kory Wells in her upcoming workshop. This session will be suitable for all levels of writers.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Kory Wells is author of two poetry collections, most recently Sugar Fix from Terrapin Books. A former poet laureate of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, she founded and directs Poetry in the Boro, a reading and open mic series now in its tenth year. Her writing has been featured on The Slowdown from American Public Media, won Blue Earth Review’s Flash Creative Nonfiction Contest, and appears in Cutleaf, Salvation South, The Strategic Poet, and elsewhere. After her first career in software development, Kory nurtures community through storytelling, arts initiatives, and as a mentor to writers through the from-home creative writing program MTSU Write. Find her on Instagram or Facebook as @tnpoet.

Meeting Information

This program will be presented at our upcoming PST meeting, to be held January 10, 2026, from 2:00-4:00 pm Eastern / 1:00-3:00 pm Central via Zoom. Members will be provided a link a few days prior. If you are interested in learning more about PST, check out our website. If you’d like to attend our meeting as a guest, contact us at poetrytennessee@gmail.com.