Where do we turn when we need words to express the inexpressible—joy at a birth, sorrow at a terrible loss? Where do we turn to mark momentous occasions or to whisper to ourselves our most secret heartbreaks and desires? And where do we turn when we want to play with words, slippery and colorful as pool toys, for the sheer fun of it? To poetry, of course!

This poetry writing class creates a space for self-expression as well as for transforming self-expression into works of verbal art. We will read poems by both classical and contemporary poets; we will draft and revise our own poems; we will, as a class, use collaborative workshops to share work and offer observations and insights on each other’s poems. The class will address technical matters of craft—image, sound, line, shape, and structure—and explore poems ranging from straight narrative to wildly experimental. The primary focus, though, will be on class members discovering their own aesthetic, style, and voice.

At our first class, we will get to know each other and look ahead to our work together. Students will not need a textbook; links will be provided to published poetry online.

INSTRUCTOR(S)
Gyorgyi Voros is the author of Notations of the Wild: Ecology in the Poetry of Wallace Stevens and of a collection of poems, Unwavering. Her work has been published in literary journals and anthologies, including The Eco-Poetry Anthology and A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia.