Current / UPCOMING ONLINE classes:
Story, Structure, Music and Imagination: Nurturing Poetic Temperaments — DATES TBA
Have you ever really paused to examine what guides your impulses as a writer? This course is an opportunity to become self-aware in a new, productive, deeply nourishing way! Gregory Orr suggests that “Different poets are born with different temperaments, and the nature of their temperaments determines essential qualities of the poems they write…. To my way of thinking, there are four distinct temperaments. If a poet is born with one temperament, then they grow as a poet by developing that temperament, but also by nurturing the others.” Utilizing a brilliant essay by Orr as a guide for group discussion, exploration, poem analysis, and personal growth, participants will learn about why and how to apply Orr’s theory of poetic temperaments to their writing practice. During this eight week course, each temperament will be explored individually, with the last two weeks serving as workshop periods, when participants will receive group feedback though conversation and written comments. Limited to 12 participants.
Tell me more ! : A workshop for sequences & lengthy poems ( for in-progress work) — dates tba
In standard workshop environments, it is typically frowned upon, or even forbidden (!) to bring a long poem or a sequence to class. But — that’s what this 8 week course is all about! Bring that unruly in-progress work to class — that blooming sonnet sequence, that unruly piece which no one has had time to give you feedback on….. Each of our meetings will be dedicated to constructively critiquing the work of two students per period; by the end of the course, each student will have received two hours of constructive group critique exclusively on their work. This course is limited to seven students only, and is not intended as a generative course; solidly in-progress works of single poems or sequences between 3 - 10 pages each are welcomed (in 12 point font). Participants will not be expected to bring more than one long poem or sequence to class, though welcome if desired (it will be encouraged to bring a revision after a first workshop hour).
( Classes with Full descriptions / dates coming soon):
HYbrid pleasures: The possibilities of Poetic Prose
While There is Still Time: investigating & undoing our anthropocentric impulses
containing multitudes: Surveying the long poem
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frequently / regularly / semi-annually offered courses
THE PRACTICE OF PROSE (POETRY)! (OFFERED OCCASIONALLY, SINCE 2021)
This 6 week course explores the history and practice of prose poetry — come learn just exactly why prose and poetry are not antonyms! Reading from Baudelaire and Pierre Reverdy to Danez Smith and K. Iver, students will participate in discussions and in-class prompts, with the two final weeks of class acting as workshop sessions.
DIVING INTO THE MUCK: HOW TO SUBMIT POETRY, NOT BECOME DEFEATED, AND GET PUBLISHED (offered annually, since 2021)
The publishing process can feel daunting (to put it mildly) but in this one-day seminar, we’ll look at both the nitty gritty and the big picture: where to submit, how to put together a submission packet (including the do’s and don’ts of cover letters), how to navigate editorial suggestions, acceptances, and, of course, those inevitable rejections! This 1.5 hour seminar on publishing in literary journals will help you to kickstart and/or streamline your personal submission habits, and perhaps most importantly, help foster a stress-free and healthy outlook on publishing.
Intensive POETRY WORKSHOP - (WORKSHOPS OFFERED SEMI-REGULARLY, since 2020)
This all-levels poetry workshop—limited to seven participants—provides an opportunity for constructive criticism through discussion and feedback on poems in-progress. Participants will be assigned group peer critique and provided various readings on poetic craft over the weeks. Open to writers ages 17+.
SHELTER-IN-PLACE: WRITING WHERE WE ARE - (offered since 2020 in 6-8 week sessions, various seasons)
In this generative poetry course, we take the term “Shelter-In-Place” as a directive to "Take Solace in Place," investigating how to more deeply see the places we live and how we live in them. This course is an opportunity to become re-centered during a time of uncertainty, connect in a time of disconnection, clarify creative process, and to deepen meaning in our day-to-day lives. What does it mean to be here, now, and what before this particular moment in time might we have overlooked? Each class includes, related to the idea of Place, a short group meditation, in-class prompts, and reading work by authors such as Craig Santos Perez, Jake Skeets, Chen Chen, Camille T. Dungy, Natalie Diaz, Victoria Chang, and Donika Kelly. Open to ages 15+.
One-time (so far) courses:
Shapeshifters: A Poetry course for Friends & Foes of Form - Fall 2023
Does mention of formal poetry give you hives? Does the suggestion to write in form make you whir with delight? Are you form-curious but historically non-committal? With a friendly back-to-school vibe, this poetry course is an opportunity designed to break down old assumptions and hang-ups surrounding “formal poetry” and get elbow-deep in what it means to choose to write in poetic form in our present day. Reading and discussing sonnets, abecedarians, villanelles, sestinas, and self-made forms, participants will workshop their own formal poems every other week, prompted by our readings and discussions. Open to writers ages 18+.
Guest-teaching for Sustenance (An online writing community): The Service of Sonnets - Fall 2022
In this sonnet-centered session, we’ll discuss the capabilities and benefits of working with this beloved and storied form, even going behind the scenes to look at the process of revising a sonnet, from a first draft to maturation. Engaging with contemporary sonnets while remaining actively connected to the sonnet’s historical context, we will explore how what we think of as “traditional” has also often been subversive, and debunk the widespread simplification of the form. This session will offer an accessible entry point into how and why to write in meter (or in a shadow of meter), and how working within formal boundaries offers a distinct opportunity for emotional freedom and exploration.
Line up! : long, short, and wild lines (Crash course craft series) - Winter 2021/22
Another installment of the Crash Course Craft Series, this three week intensive looks at the potentials of the poetic line! What is the "point" of lineation? In what way does the movement of a poetic line emotionally and psychically inform and reform language? What does line length control or release; what does it obscure or reveal? Composed of reading, discussion, and in-class prompts, this course is open to writers ages 17+.
I will put chaos into fourteen lines: Reading and Writing Sonnets - Fall 2021
During this 8 week course, we will explore the history and craft of sonnets through the ages for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of workshopping sonnets written by participants. Our investigations will include the why and how of traditional iambic pentameter alongside the why and how of formal choices made by modern authors, traveling from poets such as Shakespeare and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Cathy Park Hong and Danez Smith.
Just for Today: POETRY, PRAYER, AND MEDITATIOn - FALL 2021
“Absolutely unmixed attention is the highest form of prayer” wrote Simone Weil, and what is reading and writing poetry if not an act of deep attention? This unique four week course opens and closes with extended guided meditations, and takes time between those meditations to discuss poems that broadly address ideas and questions on prayer. Each class includes opportunities for in-class writing – poems to share or a private reflections. Poetry and meditations come from thinkers such as Roshi Joan Halifax, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ross Gay, Galway Kinnell, and many more. Dance artist Ajani Brannum and performance artist Gregory Barnett will act as visiting guest guides, lending their particular spiritual insight to two sessions. This course include periods of gentle physical action, so comfortable clothing is recommended, along with a mat or carpeted area spacious enough to rest in.
THE TURNING POINT: POETRY ON ADDICTION AND RECOVERY - Spring 2021
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” wrote Joan Didion, and perhaps no community of people is more acutely aware of this than those who struggle with substance abuse, and those in communities of recovery from addiction. This 4 week intensive course is half generative and half workshop. In the first 2 weeks, we will read poems that address the heartbreak, hope, and complexity of both substance abuse and the recovery process, and use those works as generative prompts. In the following 2 weeks, participants will share personal work for discussion and constructive critique. This is a course for all levels of writers! Additionally, no experience or participation in particular recovery programs are required, though 12 step recovery will be discussed. This course is open to any ages 17+, and has limited seats in order to create a safe space for honest discussion.
the Sounds of poetry: A Craft study - Spring 2021
A deep 8 week-long study of sound in poetry, guided by Robert PInsky’s “The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide.” Class also includes workshop elements, and reading of poets such as Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hannah Sanghee Park, Robert Frost, and Lynda Hull.
Meter and Scansion for Beginners (Crash course craft series) - Winter 2020
A three day intensive exploration of the basics of meter and graphic scansion, focused on developing the skills to identify line length and poetic feet in order to newly utilize meter.