l am a poetry mentor/coach who specializes in mentoring those who want feedback and advice on their poetry. We can work on a short project or a long one. These sessions are usually conducted on Google Meet. At least three-five days before our meeting, you would send me a Word attachment of up to 10 pages of poetry that you are willing to revise. Please click on the “Contact” page for more details on how to sign up to work with me. I charge $65 per session–usually 60-90 minutes–which includes the several hours I spend with your poetry before we meet in person. I return a tracked copy of my comments/talking points to you an hour or so before we meet.
My approach is organic and client-driven: you determine how often to meet (I recommend every one-two weeks to give plenty of time for reflection and revision as well as new writing), when to consider publishing (I can help you determine appropriate outlets for your work). I have worked with many clients; each one’s needs and reasons for writing are different.
Why work with a mentor? Sometimes you need a fresh look–from an honest and supportive perspective–at poems which no one else has seen; sometimes you need clarity about what particular poems are doing; sometimes you just want to explore the craft. Often my process is to encourage you to “play” with a draft, asking “what if” questions about choices in diction or line and stanza construction. Whatever your goal, feel free to try a few sessions to see if we’re a good fit. Please see the “Contact” page to start our conversation!
I have taught writing courses at the university level (essay and poetry) to returning adults for many years. See my CV below.*
Click here to read my first-prize poem “The Final Thing,” interview, and other poems in The Orchards Poetry Review, Summer 2022.
Click here for my reading of “The Final Thing” and other poems on Kelsay Books Webpage, Summer 2022.
Click here for my Wisconsin People & Ideas reading on July 7, 2020, in which I read some of my four-time prize-winning poems in their yearly contests.
Click here for 1982 interview with WHA Radio: “Art & Soul Milwaukee Poets: Kathleen Dale. Interviewer Ronnie Hess deserves a lot of credit for making this beautiful piece about my early poetry.
Click on the links below for poems read at The Coffee House in Milwaukee with other members of my writers’ group in February of 2016.
Please click here for link to Wisconsin People & Ideas Fiction and Poetry Contest Reading on October 23, 2015, in which I read some poems, old and new.
You may buy any of my books on this website, including my recent autobiography, Offerings: The Decluttering of a Life. Please go to the “Buy Books” tab, above.
*Kathleen A Dale: Curriculum Vitae
Education:
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. English. Modern American Poetry. Dissertation on Wallace Stevens. “With Distinction.”
MA, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). English Language and Literature.
BA, Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware, OH) English. Phi Beta Kappa. “Magna Cum Laude”
Work Experience:
Current: Free-lance editor/mentor for writers of all kinds with various academic
and non-academic projects.
Past: University Lecturer in English Composition:
Adjunct Assistant Professor. College of Professional Studies
(for returning adult students). Marquette University. Milwaukee, WI.
Senior Lecturer in English. Academic Opportunity Center
(for students not regularly admitted ). University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
English 90, Basic Writing
English 95, Fundamentals of Composition
English 101, Introduction to College Writing
English 112, Writing and Critical Thinking
English 102, Writing and Research (partly online-service learning)
English 233, Introduction to Creative Writing (partly online)
English 192, Freshman seminar “Images of Passage: Coming of Age in Contemporary America”
English 201, Strategies of Academic Writing (service learning)
High School English Teacher. New Trier High School. Northfield, IL
Kathleen Ann Dale: Poetry Mentor/Coach 