“How to Eat a Poem” and “Poetry Soccer: Play with Words” are two of the free poetry-writing workshops coming up in Sequim and Port Angeles next month, while organizers are urging participants to sign up before they fill up.

Four sessions are set for early January in anticipation of the Rainshadow Poetry Competition, a contest open to poets of all ages and levels in Clallam and Jefferson counties.

The deadline to send poems in to the competition is 5 p.m. Jan. 22, while entrants can find submission guidelines at www.rainshadowpoetry.com. The website also has information about January’s workshops.

Participants can register for any of them by phoning co-organizer Ruth Marcus at 360-681-2205 or emailing rmarcus@olypen.com.

Here’s the lineup of workshops.

■ Wednesday, Jan. 6: Poet and Peninsula College professor Kate Reavey and professor emerita Alice Derry, whose books include Strangers to Their Courage and Tremolo, will give a generative poetry class for adults from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.

This session is limited to 15.

■   Friday, Jan. 8: Sequim poet Carlyn Syvanen will host “How to Eat a Poem,” a writing workshop, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.

“Don’t be polite,” Syvanen said. “Bite in.”

■   Saturday, Jan. 9: Retired teacher Donna Downes will give a poetry workshop for fifth- through eighth-grade students at the Port Angeles Library.

Downes’ advice to young poets: “Play with words; bring your imagination.”

■   Sunday, Jan. 10: Author and poet Gene Bradbury will host “Poetry Soccer: Play with Words,” another session for fifth- through eighth-graders.

In this workshop from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., he’ll guide young writers as they turn poetry into a game.

Participants in any of these workshops should bring paper and pencils — but no laptops or other electronic devices.

The Rainshadow Poetry Competition will culminate in a free, public poetry reading at 2 p.m. May 1 at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave. in Sequim, and the publication of the Rainshadow Poetry anthology of winning works.