We will discard the age-old adage of “finding your voice” in favor of listening to and mimicking the extraordinary lyric voices that we encounter in this weeklong generative poetry writing course. That’s how babies learn to speak, after all; hence, writers of all levels are welcome here, insofar as we are losing our voices in order to begin at the beginning, where imitation is the bedrock of invention. In keeping, we will approach the art of poetry as an art of imitation, with the five-day course structured into five corresponding units: 

1.    Imitation of Sounds (Rhyme)

2.    Imitation of Nature and Reality (“Mimesis” and other fun Greek words)

3.    Imitation of Masters and Conventions (Who is this poet imitating? And how/why do we “recognize” this poem as “good”?)

4.    Genres of Imitation and the Imitation of Genres (Parody, homage, and translation / The resilient but ever-changing sonnet)

5.    Imitation’s Limitations (Can a poem really imitate a river? The wind? A Dorito™? Death?)

Each day, we will discuss readings for form and technique, write in-class generative poetry exercises, and share work with each other. Near the end of the five days, I will hold individual 20-minute conferences with each writer. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer first impressions on writing you produce in our week.