ISLAMABAD: ‘The Poet Within’, a workshop for beginner poets was organised on Friday by Kuch Khaas Centre for Arts, Culture and Dialogue with techniques of writing poetic verses. Zakia R Khwaja conducted the workshop that was designed as a one-day seminar with instructions for people who had just started writing poetry and wanted to polish their skills, said the organisers. Zakia had studied poetry with renowned poet James Longenbach and her work mostly focuses on providing insights on cultural, social and political issues. The beginner poets got an opportunity to improve their writing skills and the foundations of poetry expressions. The workshop was an introductory Level I course which focused on knowledge-building with development of skills while various sessions of the workshop discussed topics like “The Frontier of Writing”, “Thoughts That Breathe and Words That Burn”, “Poetry Arrived in Search of Me”, “Chasing Images with Words” “The Best Words in the Best Order”, “Writer’s Anonymous”, “Half the Distance to Madness” and “In My End Is My Beginning”. Throughout the ages poetry has served to change minds and change lives. As a form of communication and expression, it has been used to strengthen communal ties, to liberate people from suffering, as a tool against oppression, as a form of protest, and in many other significant ways. app.