Someone compared a poem to compost, saying that to build a heap of the stuff, one needs to pile a hillock of organic and inorganic matter to get a spadeful of good soil. My goal is ten spadefuls of “soil” for the garden that grows in your skull—one for each hour-long class. Recent works by Joyce Sutpen, Maxine Kumin, William Stafford, and Ed Ochester will be featured along with a host of others. As is the case with all OLLI classes, there are no tests to take or papers to submit, but if you’d like the class to discuss one of your own poems or one by a favorite poet, old or new, don’t hesitate to submit it. I’ll do my best to work it into what I’ve planned. This is not a lecture-based course; instead, we will discuss the works on hand that you and I bring to class, but no one is under any pressure to speak. “Patchwork” classes have always been fun and enlightening; this time around should be no different.

Skip Eisiminger is retired from the Clemson University English Department, where he taught History of the Language, Word Study, American Literature, interdisciplinary humanities, and creative writing for 42 years. He continues to publish in the South Carolina Review, Weekly Hubris, and KYSO Flash. He is the author of Anecdotes and Antidotes (Serving House Press, 2019).