Japan Writers Conference 2020 via Zoom (10th & 11th October)

Every autumn looking forward to joining in the conference. Under COVID-19, all sessions were held via Zoom. I jointed in the 10th & 11th October programmes.
http://japanwritersconference.org/schedule/

(1) Cross-Disciplinary Poetry, Workshop organized by Christopher Simons
      The level was so high, evocative for me. The discussion was about what I generally thought about, e.g., jargon. I didn't disagree with the use of jargon in verse, because it can become a poetic element; playful. How can I effectively function jargon in the poetic viewpoint? Considering a poetry reading scene, i.e., a scene of spoken words, it's significant to imagine the audience. Further, we referred to verse of some English poets. I reaffirmed the virtue of close-reading skill. Regarding poetry crafting, the theme was science. I pondered robotics (I often have translated), wanted to write an ode to the acclaimed roboticist who had established the theory of Uncanny Valley. Unfortunately, I could not finish it. Now try to finish it.

(2)  Rhyme and Meter, Craft Workshop organized by Warren Decker
      Using poems of Robert Frost and Warren Decker himself, we checked rhyme and rhythm. I sometimes made a mistake between beat and stress. However, with today's workshop, I confirmed them. Some graphs like combination of oscilloscope and bar chart enabled my knowledge of scansion to get clearer. I read a part of one poem aloud there! 
     *** Please read: Chris McCully's essay on prosody

(3) Poetry Reading with Q&A - Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, Yoko Danno and Goro Takano
     Each poet read poems for 15 min. In the previous workshops, the British poet Joolz gave me advice that critical was reading in front of audience, seeing the reaction of audience while reading. The use of Zoom for reading was not so bad, for I could watch the face or mouth of each poet, clearly hear the voice. Learnt a lot from the poets' reading.
     From this reading, I confirmed again that there was a huge difference between a native English speaking reader and a Japanese: breathing. In this aspect, I am inspired by Charles Olson's thought on space.
   
For me, poet's workshop has been wildly effective, helpful to improve my writing. The experience in the conference taught my drawbacks.

Thank you so much to workshop leaders, readers, and organizers.