Courses

Consider this course an immersion in your own creative process. In a supportive and dynamic online community, students will begin to explore their lives for poetic material. We will focus on cultivating the small but powerful habits necessary for a sustained poetry practice, and we will share the strategies that work for us. Students will read works that range from the spiritual intensity of Gerard Manley Hopkins to the “magnificent dream” of Anne Waldman and the meditations of Robert Hass. Assignments will explore the pleasures of language, encourage students to play with content and form, and expand our sense of the possibilities of poetry. Every other day, students will receive an optional writing prompt and will set a goal of freewriting to the prompt for a minimum of 30 minutes. These prompts will challenge us to dig into our memories and experiences, delving into our personal truths and voices. The goal will be simply to express ourselves, without worrying about the ultimate form of our creativity. Students will engage in conversation with fellow writers in the class, providing brief feedback to one classmate per prompt. They will complete this course with a strong poetry-writing practice in place, connections to a lively community of creative people, and clear goals for future poetry endeavors.