POET 41 — Poetry Workshop: Writing Poems of Love and Praise
Quarter: Fall
Day(s): Mondays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 8 weeks
Date(s): Oct 9—Dec 4
Time: 6:30—9:20 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Oct 11
Units: 2
Tuition: $660
Instructor(s): Zeina Hashem Beck
Limit: 21
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Closed
Fall
Date(s)
Oct 9—Dec 4
8 weeks
Refund Date
Oct 11
2 Units
Fees
$660
Instructor(s):
Zeina Hashem Beck
Limit
21
Recording
Yes
Closed
How can poetry help us celebrate the daily, our ephemeral lives, and a world we know is filled with hurt? From romantic pieces for lovers to poems for friends, lost ones, fleeting moments, and the self, we’ll attempt to do what Rainer Maria Rilke describes in the following lines: “O tell us, poet, what you do?—I praise.” We’ll read work by Aracelis Girmay, Ada Limón, Ellen Bass, Hala Alyan, Ross Gay, Bashō, and Rabi’a al-Basri, among others, noticing the ways they love and praise, even in a broken world. Every week, we will discuss what we’ve been reading, share our thoughts, and begin writing based on prompts, seeking to preserve a sense of wonder and excitement and honor each student’s intention. The classroom will be a space where everyone is appreciated and encouraged. Students will be given poems to read before our introductory session, and we will start workshopping in the second week. This course is for writers at all stages, whether they’re brand-new to poetry or have been writing poems for years. Students can expect to write new poems, have two to three of them workshopped in class, and receive instructor feedback on a final portfolio if they choose to submit one.
ZEINA HASHEM BECK
Poet; Essayist
Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet whose third poetry collection, O, was named Best Book of 2022 by Literary Hub and the New York Public Library, and it also received the 2023 Arab American Book Award for poetry. Her second full-length collection, Louder than Hearts, received the 2016 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She is the co-host of Maqsouda, a podcast in Arabic about Arabic poetry. She received a BA and an MA in English literature from the American University of Beirut and has taught poetry workshops in the US and internationally. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.