CLASS SCHEDULE & SELECTiONS NOW OPEN
FRiDAY MASTER CLASSES
Brook Matson: Connotations in Multiple Dimensions
Using a little neuroscience and the work of contemporary poets, we’ll explore how the cumulative power of word connotations in a poem creates multiple dimensions of meaning, adding depth and richness for the reader. Prepare to get hands-on with scissors and teamwork as we dissect a poem’s many layers! Then we’ll reverse the process, asking […]
Session 1 | Saturday 8:30-10am
Matson | Techniques for Arranging Your Manuscript
Arranging many poems into a cohesive manuscript can leave us pulling our hair out, but it can also be the most fun part of the process if we listen to what are poems are saying. Using playful techniques and storyboarding, we’ll explore creative ways to arrange poems and learn what your manuscript is trying to […]
Lashley | Finding Your Own Organic Breath on the Page
Breath is the poetic term that belongs most to the reader and writer to define. Yet because of faulty teaching and the public pressure to put a hierarchy on forms, it remains tough for even the best poets to grapple with. Using the examples of Lucille Clifton, Margaret Walker, Yehuda Amichai, and Kay Ryan we […]
Session 2 | Saturday 10:15-11:45am
Trease | How to Keep the Ball Rolling: Using Perception Like a Rube Goldberg Machine
In this workshop we’ll explore how thoughts move within a poem, and how we can take advantage of that to maximize meaning. Using Rube Goldberg contraptions as a metaphor, we’ll engage in some exercises, both alone and in groups, that allow us to build from one thought to another without everything having to fit into […]
Lilley | Race, Class, and Place
I am a southern-born African American writer, and therefore race, class, and place were dominant themes in the day-to-day life in the region where I was raised. When I was a much younger poet one of my mentors pointed out that I was calling attention to some hot button societal issues in my poems and […]
Session 3 | Saturday 1:40-3:10pm
Berger | Kisstank & Night Jar: Naming & Belonging
In this workshop, we’ll investigate and identify your poet’s homeground, past and present–the physical landscapes and animals, plants and weathers that reside there–and name them, bringing their unique and colloquial meanings to the surface. When a bird becomes a nightjar, and a depression of water in the desert becomes a kisstank, worlds of imagery, metaphor, […]
Session 4 | Saturday 3:25-4:55pm
Lilley | Voice: The Word Written and Spoken
Doesn’t a poet always have something to say? Yes, they do. Isn’t that the prerequisite for writing? Yes, they do, and yes it is. Should all poems be read aloud? Yes, indeed. I contend that “voice” of a poem it not just a poet’s aesthetic, or style, but rather it can be considered character speech. […]
Hunt | The Art and Craft of Poetry: A Consideration of the Sonnet
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Bambrick | Poetry & Friendship
This generative craft class will focus on poems that celebrate friendship, joy, and connection. Through prompts and selected readings, we will pose questions about relation and form, investigating, also, the intimacy of readership.
Session 5 | Sunday 10-11:30am
Trease | Unsolving Mysteries: How to Have Fun with Strangeness and the Unexplainable
In this workshop we’ll explore some simple group and individual exercises adapted from children’s games that can open up poem writing to thoughts, feelings, and images that truly surprise us (and by proxy our readers). If you’ve grown bored with your writing, found yourself plagued with writer’s block, or often feel like you have little […]
Svalina | Finding Forms
This workshop introduces literary forms that come from outside poetic traditions and guides writers to invent new forms for themselves. We will discuss a few examples of non-traditional forms, discuss what makes for a poetically fruitful form, and devise new forms from observation of the world and from the wilds of the imagination.
Session 6 | Sunday 12:15-1:45pm
Vaux | The Business of Poetry: Developing Goals for Your Life as an Artist
Every writer has unique goals for their work, but understanding how to get from Point A to Point B can be a challenge. Writers don’t lead identical lives so their plans for writing must reflect the reality of how they can achieve their goals in accordance with their skills, values, and interests. In this workshop […]
Priest | Poems at the Ends of Our Pens
Where do your poems come from?” This question comes up a lot in Q & A sessions and interviews, and it’s a great question. Where indeed? We’ll discuss where our poems come from, and if you have a favorite poem you’ve written, I invite you to bring it along and share it, along with a […]
Cavazos | Two Truths and a Lie: The Mathematics of Language
In this generative workshop participants will develop skills in identifying images verses abstractions. How in literature truths are images, or “shows” and abstractions or “tells” are lies. Lies are minuses, and truths are pluses, and if the writing is always above zero then there is an opportunity for craft to build a strong piece of […]
