Form & Discovery in Poetry
Alfred Nicol
Octavio Paz wrote that “The real ideas of a poem are not those that occur to the poet before he writes the poem, but rather those that appear in his work afterward.… Every form produces its own idea, its own vision of the world… The meaning of a poem does not lie in what the poet wanted to say, but in what the poem actually says." That’s an exhilarating way of thinking about writing. It makes the act of writing an adventure. By picking up your pen or sitting at the computer to write, you are setting out to discover meaning. It’s not there when you begin. It makes itself known to you as you write. In this workshop we'll try one of the simplest of poetic forms, the list poem, to experience the adventure of writing in form to discover meaning.
Alfred Nicol
Octavio Paz wrote that “The real ideas of a poem are not those that occur to the poet before he writes the poem, but rather those that appear in his work afterward.… Every form produces its own idea, its own vision of the world… The meaning of a poem does not lie in what the poet wanted to say, but in what the poem actually says." That’s an exhilarating way of thinking about writing. It makes the act of writing an adventure. By picking up your pen or sitting at the computer to write, you are setting out to discover meaning. It’s not there when you begin. It makes itself known to you as you write. In this workshop we'll try one of the simplest of poetic forms, the list poem, to experience the adventure of writing in form to discover meaning.
Get Free, Poet!
Anthony Febo
At times, the hardest thing about writing is starting. In this workshop, we will explore different methods of allowing yourself to get free within your own work. Using various writing prompts and theatre exercises, you will be pushed to use all the artistic abilities that you possess.
Anthony Febo
At times, the hardest thing about writing is starting. In this workshop, we will explore different methods of allowing yourself to get free within your own work. Using various writing prompts and theatre exercises, you will be pushed to use all the artistic abilities that you possess.
Poetry 5000!
Elisabeth Houston
Some of you may write slam poems and others sonnets; regardless, I welcome anyone with a desire to play with language, tinker with imagery, and shape new sounds. Improvisation and play is a crucial part of originality - and making original poems. As you come to the page, I ask that you draw on the extraordinary wealth of your own experiences and the riches of your own imagination. To help cultivate you as writers, it is critical our class is a supportive, trusting space where students can bring in material that is personal, challenging, and risky. Sensitivity is a crucial element of a successful workshop. Come one and come all!
Elisabeth Houston
Some of you may write slam poems and others sonnets; regardless, I welcome anyone with a desire to play with language, tinker with imagery, and shape new sounds. Improvisation and play is a crucial part of originality - and making original poems. As you come to the page, I ask that you draw on the extraordinary wealth of your own experiences and the riches of your own imagination. To help cultivate you as writers, it is critical our class is a supportive, trusting space where students can bring in material that is personal, challenging, and risky. Sensitivity is a crucial element of a successful workshop. Come one and come all!
It’s a Hard Knock Life “For us”: Writing from Personal Experience
Enzo Silon Surin
Ever wondered what Jay-Z meant by “it’s a hard knock life”? Sometimes the difficult moments we experience in life are often the hardest to write about. Ever wondered why? Ever wondered what would happen if these stories never get told? In this workshop, we will discuss clear, safe and effective ways to write poems from personal experience.
Enzo Silon Surin
Ever wondered what Jay-Z meant by “it’s a hard knock life”? Sometimes the difficult moments we experience in life are often the hardest to write about. Ever wondered why? Ever wondered what would happen if these stories never get told? In this workshop, we will discuss clear, safe and effective ways to write poems from personal experience.
Where We're From
Erich Haygun
Students will draft a poem that illustrates pride in their community, as well addresses challenges that community faces, using symbolism and imagery.
Erich Haygun
Students will draft a poem that illustrates pride in their community, as well addresses challenges that community faces, using symbolism and imagery.
The Uncommon Cliche
Jade Sylvan
Everyone wants to write about the big stuff. Love. Death. War. Racism. Zombies. One challenge for new writers (and, let's be honest, lots of old writers) is how to tackle topics that have been done a billion times before. This workshop focuses on finding techniques to approach these themes in fresh, unique, and powerful ways.
Jade Sylvan
Everyone wants to write about the big stuff. Love. Death. War. Racism. Zombies. One challenge for new writers (and, let's be honest, lots of old writers) is how to tackle topics that have been done a billion times before. This workshop focuses on finding techniques to approach these themes in fresh, unique, and powerful ways.
Celebrity Persona Poems
Jennifer Jean
Is there an entertainment, sports, or pop-icon that you know a lot about? Learn how to write a poem from their point of view! This class will take you through several steps of writing “persona poems” using list-making techniques and situation creation. At the end of the class we’ll share our results and then write one more poem about a hero or heroine that lives in our everyday lives. With poet: Jennifer Jean.
Jennifer Jean
Is there an entertainment, sports, or pop-icon that you know a lot about? Learn how to write a poem from their point of view! This class will take you through several steps of writing “persona poems” using list-making techniques and situation creation. At the end of the class we’ll share our results and then write one more poem about a hero or heroine that lives in our everyday lives. With poet: Jennifer Jean.
To Whom It May Concern: Epistolary Poems
Kemi Alabi
Dear Dad,
Dear Miley Cyrus,
Dear New York City,
Dear Mysterious Cafeteria Lunchmeat,
Epistolary poetry gives the letter, a private mode of communication, a public audience. This can turn confessions into declarations and objections into full-blown airings of grievances. In this workshop, we'll write our own open letters, using the format to argue, implore and reveal.
Kemi Alabi
Dear Dad,
Dear Miley Cyrus,
Dear New York City,
Dear Mysterious Cafeteria Lunchmeat,
Epistolary poetry gives the letter, a private mode of communication, a public audience. This can turn confessions into declarations and objections into full-blown airings of grievances. In this workshop, we'll write our own open letters, using the format to argue, implore and reveal.
Object Poems: Line-Craft and Metaphor
Maggie Dietz
This workshop explores the way that the things of this world--a hammer, a ring, a guitar, a clock--engage the human imagination. A single object may be the source of vast metaphorical and descriptive possibility. After looking closely at some excellent poems from the tradition--by Wiliam Carlos Williams and Denise Levertov--students will write their own image-rich poems focusing on an object of their choosing.
Maggie Dietz
This workshop explores the way that the things of this world--a hammer, a ring, a guitar, a clock--engage the human imagination. A single object may be the source of vast metaphorical and descriptive possibility. After looking closely at some excellent poems from the tradition--by Wiliam Carlos Williams and Denise Levertov--students will write their own image-rich poems focusing on an object of their choosing.
Symphony of Fishes: Baiting the Poem with Imagery
Melissa Varnavas
Ever lose yourself in a story so much that you felt you were there, standing beside the characters as they cast their line out into the still water of the pond, the boat rocking beneath your feet? Ever head out to the beach with your friends in the midst of a humid summer day and get overwhelmed by the smell of the ocean, the mist, the sunscreen, the laughter and chatter around you?
During this workshop we'll use our senses as a net to capture poetic images and see how they can transport our poetry.
Melissa Varnavas
Ever lose yourself in a story so much that you felt you were there, standing beside the characters as they cast their line out into the still water of the pond, the boat rocking beneath your feet? Ever head out to the beach with your friends in the midst of a humid summer day and get overwhelmed by the smell of the ocean, the mist, the sunscreen, the laughter and chatter around you?
During this workshop we'll use our senses as a net to capture poetic images and see how they can transport our poetry.
The Unlettered Muse: Poetry and the Creative Mind
Regie Gibson
This will be a lively writing workshop for those of you who want to write without all the rules you never wanted to learn anyway. By using both surrealist and structured techniques, like we will peep under the left and right sides of the brain and see what peeps back
Regie Gibson
This will be a lively writing workshop for those of you who want to write without all the rules you never wanted to learn anyway. By using both surrealist and structured techniques, like we will peep under the left and right sides of the brain and see what peeps back
Thinking Inside the Box
Rhina Espaillat
The tighter the box you put me in, the happier I am. Yes, I know, that sounds weird—but it’s true. Recent studies suggest that everybody who needs to dream up a solution—whether it’s a scientist, a businessman, an architect, an athlete or a poet—can benefit from constraints, because working to overcome those can force the brain into surprising efforts, and the imagination into discoveries that total freedom and unlimited choice will not inspire. Come learn about the poet’s self-imposed constraints, how to use them to improve your poems, and how to enjoy the process.
Rhina Espaillat
The tighter the box you put me in, the happier I am. Yes, I know, that sounds weird—but it’s true. Recent studies suggest that everybody who needs to dream up a solution—whether it’s a scientist, a businessman, an architect, an athlete or a poet—can benefit from constraints, because working to overcome those can force the brain into surprising efforts, and the imagination into discoveries that total freedom and unlimited choice will not inspire. Come learn about the poet’s self-imposed constraints, how to use them to improve your poems, and how to enjoy the process.
Writing from Memory
Tara Skurtu
Personal memory is like a trustfund of images, stories, and senses. And, in a way, it functions very much like a poem--its logic isn't chronological, its associations are often connected by seemingly unrelated thoughts or visuals, and it's always in a state of movement . In this workshop, we'll use prompts that allow us to travel into our memories to write unpredictable, spontaneous, and surprising poetry.
Tara Skurtu
Personal memory is like a trustfund of images, stories, and senses. And, in a way, it functions very much like a poem--its logic isn't chronological, its associations are often connected by seemingly unrelated thoughts or visuals, and it's always in a state of movement . In this workshop, we'll use prompts that allow us to travel into our memories to write unpredictable, spontaneous, and surprising poetry.
The Archaeology of You
Teisha Twomey
“A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else is just a footnote.” - Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Grateful for your life or damn your life, you will participate in writing about experiences from your point of view. You will recall objects and moments in time that were meaningful to you and then free write about them. You will record these artifacts, as the archeologist of your own experiences, by using object prompts and then responding to questions, such as "If these three objects were left behind what would this tell others about your character?" I will assist you each in discovering the part of your responses in which the "heart of the emotion" lies (where the insight, imagery, and symbolism seem to gain strength) and then provide you with ways one may transform prose into poetry.
Teisha Twomey
“A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else is just a footnote.” - Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Grateful for your life or damn your life, you will participate in writing about experiences from your point of view. You will recall objects and moments in time that were meaningful to you and then free write about them. You will record these artifacts, as the archeologist of your own experiences, by using object prompts and then responding to questions, such as "If these three objects were left behind what would this tell others about your character?" I will assist you each in discovering the part of your responses in which the "heart of the emotion" lies (where the insight, imagery, and symbolism seem to gain strength) and then provide you with ways one may transform prose into poetry.
Jump Starting Your Writing and Telling Your Inner Voice to Shut Up
Timothy Gager
Do you believe in writers block? I don't, because even though you may have heard all about it, writers block only exists if you want it to. It's all about FEAR! Today's workshop will demonstrate how to work with prompts, either pictures or words, and what's the best way to workshop.
Timothy Gager
Do you believe in writers block? I don't, because even though you may have heard all about it, writers block only exists if you want it to. It's all about FEAR! Today's workshop will demonstrate how to work with prompts, either pictures or words, and what's the best way to workshop.
Say The Thing
William Stratton
Poetry has many aesthetics, and its long history means it has been approached a variety of ways. Often poets lose the 'thing' they mean to say in the ways which they have learned to say it. This workshop is about remembering those things we wanted to say when we started writing poetry in the first place, and all the things we've lost along the way...and then learning how to write them.
William Stratton
Poetry has many aesthetics, and its long history means it has been approached a variety of ways. Often poets lose the 'thing' they mean to say in the ways which they have learned to say it. This workshop is about remembering those things we wanted to say when we started writing poetry in the first place, and all the things we've lost along the way...and then learning how to write them.