MC Hyland is a poet, editor, teacher, publisher, and collaborator. She holds a PhD in English Literature from New York University, and an MFA in Creative writing and Book Arts from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and has taught for may years. With over twenty years’ experience in bookmaking and ten years in creating walking and talking poems, her expertise was inspiring to say the least.

The workshop modeled her method of connecting with others through art by randomly pairing strangers to go for a 20 minute walk in downtown New Ulm, wherein, partners were encouraged to talk to each other about anything they wished and afterwards create a poem from the experience.

Participants were primed for the exercise by first creating a mini-book out of folding one page of paper, with “hamburger” (horizontal) folds and “hot dog” (vertical) folds, and then discussing its contents.

“Wordsworth has this long poem to a friend that was the inspiration for this method of walking and writing poems. What does it mean when you write a poem for a specific person? There’s more emotion; I’m more directly trying to connect with people in these poems, but also, what does walking change with how you interact with people? There’s a sense that the conversations that Wordsworth has are more intimate in a way and they stay with him in a different way, and it’s the same for me,” said Hyland.

MC Hyland demonstrates multiple exercises in poetry as part of her workshop held at the Grand Cetner for Arts and Culture this past weekend.

When participants returned from their walk, they did a drawing meditation by focusing on body sensations while drawing a spiral, made two lists of specific things they saw, heard, touched, smelled, or noticed on their walk. Next, everyone picked one image to focus on and created notes for it. When the class was ready, participants were given 15 minutes to create a poem, which was supposed to be like a letter to their companion that reflected on the walk. For the last half hour of class, everyone was encouraged to share their work aloud.

“MC’s workshop was a wonderful exercise in slowing down and listening. I think MC’s “walking poem” project is a really unique way to build community, and we are so lucky to have her here in New Ulm to share her talent for writing (and book arts!) with us,” said Olivia Norquest, participant in a workshop and marketing and program coordinator for the Grand.

MC Hyland’s newest book, “The Dead & The Living & The Bridge,” is available from her website https://www.mchyland.com or from Meekling Press. The book Walks & Weathers will be published by Beauty School Editions in late 2025, which collects 29 Walking Poems written in

2015-2018. For more information on the Grand Center for Arts and Culture or Cellar Press, please call 507-359-9222 or visit www.thegrandnewulm.org .

Amy Zents creates notes for a poem as part of a workshop, Walking Together, Talking Together, held at the Grand Center for Arts and Culture by MC Hyland this weekend.

This paper can be folded and cut to create a mini book at MC Hyland’s workshop.