This course is designed to encourage a creative use of language in the tradition (so so broadly defined) of poetry. We will hope to access the raw volta of creative expression through, perhaps seemingly paradoxically, close consideration of that which has already been written. To do so productively, we will need to cultivate an environment in which we feel supported as individuals. My sincere hope is that this course will provide us the opportunity to share our newest, most important, experimental, or challenging work with one another, and have inspiring conversations about poetry and art and the shared life from which it draws and to which it returns as a shaping force (I use the collective “we” because I view the syllabus and readings as an expression of all the above).
Rather than thinking of our time together as a traditional workshop space, in which participants offer each other critiques and suggestions for revision, we will instead use our class both to share new attempts at expression with one another, to practice close reading and observation techniques as ways to account for our individual experiences of another’s works. Hopefully, you will enjoy this approach and learn new things about yourself and your art in the process. Guidelines for structure and feedback are provided below.
The primary and secondary texts we will consider display a variety of techniques and forms which fall under the genre of poetry. We’ll read craft essays and poetic texts on a weekly basis, in addition to consulting glossaries of poetic terms and techniques.
One of the quirks of this class is that we will frequently suspend the notion of originality. In other words, we will use already existing texts to generate new ones. The idea is manifold: to sideline the pressure of making something new; to see the ways art exists in conversation with its predecessors; to unlock new modes of making.
You will be expected to complete the course having read the required texts, written critical responses and feedback to fellow poets in the course, and created and revised poems. You’re also expected to be an active participant in discussion. In the end, the essential effort of this class is to create a community that fosters growth and freedom toward fresh imaginative pathways.
Rather than thinking of our time together as a traditional workshop space, in which participants offer each other critiques and suggestions for revision, we will instead use our class both to share new attempts at expression with one another, to practice close reading and observation techniques as ways to account for our individual experiences of another’s works. Hopefully, you will enjoy this approach and learn new things about yourself and your art in the process. Guidelines for structure and feedback are provided below.
The primary and secondary texts we will consider display a variety of techniques and forms which fall under the genre of poetry. We’ll read craft essays and poetic texts on a weekly basis, in addition to consulting glossaries of poetic terms and techniques.
One of the quirks of this class is that we will frequently suspend the notion of originality. In other words, we will use already existing texts to generate new ones. The idea is manifold: to sideline the pressure of making something new; to see the ways art exists in conversation with its predecessors; to unlock new modes of making.
You will be expected to complete the course having read the required texts, written critical responses and feedback to fellow poets in the course, and created and revised poems. You’re also expected to be an active participant in discussion. In the end, the essential effort of this class is to create a community that fosters growth and freedom toward fresh imaginative pathways.
- Teacher: Alejandro Cuellar
- Teacher: Nicholas Rattner