POET 47 W — Getting to the Quick of It: Poetry Workshop
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Esther Lin
Date(s): Sep 22—Dec 1
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Class Meeting Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Please Note: No class the week of November 23
Tuition: $1040
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 18
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 12:00—1:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 22—Dec 1
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $1040
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Instructor(s): Esther Lin
Enrollment Limit: 18
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: No class the week of November 23
In The Quick of It, poet Eamon Grennan writes, “we have to be at home here no matter what.” Poetry is a way to bypass the superficial and dive straight into the heart—our own and our readers'. Where else can we be so fully present?
In this course, we will explore how poetry can help us approach subjects that feel extraordinary, intimate, or difficult. We will read and write poems that are emotionally honest, even uncomfortably so. We will study the fundamentals of craft such as image, the line break, and the volta, as well as key techniques: when to be direct vs. when to lean into metaphor; how to inhabit an unlikeable speaker; and the ethical questions that arise when writing about trauma. Each student will receive feedback from both peers and the instructor on eight new poems. Students will leave feeling more confident writing poems that take emotional risks and feel electric in their authenticity.
In this course, we will explore how poetry can help us approach subjects that feel extraordinary, intimate, or difficult. We will read and write poems that are emotionally honest, even uncomfortably so. We will study the fundamentals of craft such as image, the line break, and the volta, as well as key techniques: when to be direct vs. when to lean into metaphor; how to inhabit an unlikeable speaker; and the ethical questions that arise when writing about trauma. Each student will receive feedback from both peers and the instructor on eight new poems. Students will leave feeling more confident writing poems that take emotional risks and feel electric in their authenticity.
ESTHER LIN
Author and Poet
Esther Lin is the author of Cold Thief Place, winner of the 2026 Norma Farber First Book Award and longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award and the 2026 PEN Open Book Award. She is also the co-editor of Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins 2024). She won a Pushcart Prize in 2024, and has been a Writing Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, and Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Asa Drake, Maybe the Body (ISBN 978-1963108682)
(Required) Jenny George, After Image (ISBN 978-1556596957)
(Required) Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux, The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (ISBN 978-0393316544)
(Required) Jenny George, After Image (ISBN 978-1556596957)
(Required) Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux, The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (ISBN 978-0393316544)