In this workshop you will try on a variety of styles and forms on the way to finding your own poetic voice.

Writing poems is discovery on paper, and good poems surprise and delight the poet as much as anyone. In this workshop you will try on a variety of styles and forms on the way to finding your own poetic voice. We will read poems together and use them as starting points for your own work, both in and out of class. The goal is for you to come away from the class with a portfolio of favorite poems–poems discovered in reading, discovered in writing. Be prepared to cast aside your inner critic and write a lot! Required text: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).

In this workshop:

• This might be considered a back-to-basics class, appropriate for any level, using Mary Oliver’s book as a jumping off point for exploration and discussion. We will cover sound, meter, image, voice, reading as a writer, and revision. The class includes one workshop session, and lots of chances to write and share.

Time requirements

• 30-60 minutes

Materials

• A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

Who should take this workshop?

• This workshop is geared towards novice poets, but we will cover a lot of ground, so is appropriate for anyone wanting a refresher on the basics of poetry writing.

If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.