You may be a poet - and you don't know it!

Whether you're an aspiring poet or simply a teenager bursting with creativity, you won't want to miss the Teen Writers Workshop from 1-4 PM, Saturday, June 21, at the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach. The free workshop, which is open to students in grades 9-12, features Sean Sexton, a celebrated artist, poet, and cattle rancher, who will engage students in an interactive program on "The Poetry of Place: Finding Poetry in Everyday Life."

Sexton has been turning his life into poetry ever since he was a child growing up on Treasure Hammock Ranch near Vero Beach. As an artist, he draws inspiration from the landscape and images of his pastoral life: cattle, tools, fruits, vegetables, palmettos, and bones inevitably find their way into his drawings, paintings, and etchings. He works outside as well as inside, often taking several years to complete a painting during the correct hours of the day and time of the year.

As a writer, Sexton has kept personal journals since 1974. What began as a college project has blossomed into a more than 100-volume repository of poetry, narratives, and drawings. Sexton's journals, which he will share with students at the Teen Writers Workshop, are a catch-all of colorful details, comprising everything from calving records to reflections on his life.

He is the author of Waldo's Mountain (Waterview Press/ 2002), a warm remembrance of the fanciful mountain built by his grandfather in Vero Beach, and Blood Writing, his first book of poetry, which is due out from Anhinga Press early next year.

Sexton is one of a host of top-notch writers who have shared their talents with local students through the Teen Writers Workshop, a nationally acclaimed writing program that has been recognized and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Since its founding eight years ago under the direction of Pam Proctor and Charlotte Terry through the Laura Riding Jackson Foundation, the program has conducted nearly two dozen workshops for more than 1000 teenagers in six counties.The 2008 workshop series is sponsored by College Application Consultants, Charlotte Terry Real Estate, and Quail Valley Charities, Inc.

To register for the June 21 workshop, please call Pam Proctor at (772) 231-2221. Registration is required. For more information, go to www.teenwritersworkshop.com