A weekend of playful reading and writing featuring the “little song,” an ideal envelope in which ideas, feelings, and arguments are raised, considered, and potentially resolved. Gerald Stern called the sonnet “an explosion, an intense moment in time,” and the form offers up the drama of a single theme with room for paradox, competition, and even collision. I love how poet April Bernard has described her sonnets as “disheveled,” and with that in mind we’ll dance with what she calls “the ideal mathematics of form and the real mess of language.” On Saturday we’ll read some traditional sonnets for inspiration and then quickly move into a closer reading of two contemporary sonneteers, Terrance Hayes (American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin) and Diane Seuss (frank: sonnets). We'll translate our close reading and appreciation into multiple drafts of poems that both borrow from our attention and bear our own singular stamp. Students are encouraged to purchase the collections by each poet prior to arriving in Iowa City, as I’ll ask participants to read a few poems by each poet before we meet—that way we can hit the ground running! Lovers of poetry at all levels of experience are welcome.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments.