Queer—in its original pejorative sense—denoted the peculiar, odd, or strange. This prompt-based course seeks to explore queerness as an orientation, as well as a sinuous avenue that meanders around seeds, roots, and stems, where strange fruits (rambutan, jackfruit, mangosteen) bloom. All writers (poets, novelists, memoirists, playwrights, and others) will be invited to ask questions about their literary structures and word choices and how they might hold the shapes of queerness. We will explore ways to transform one’s work from potentially patriarchal language into queer idiolects (idiosyncratic, eccentric parlance): for example, language that is open and pastoral and bovine like Iowa. This course is not about a destination, but about pausing on the roadside to water the seeds of strangeness. We will learn to nourish our unique peculiarities so they may blossom into beasts.

Throughout the week, we will produce new work, voraciously, and workshop in class, voraciously. We will write in class in response to prompts, and we will share and workshop work written in class or produced outside. Writers can expect to leave the workshop with 20 poems or 20 short prose pieces. We will draw inspiration from published queer writers—such as Jackie Wang, Audre Lorde, Sarah Kane, Ali Raz, Daisuke Shen, and Natalie Diaz—whose work we will discuss in class. By the end of the week, writers will become more prolific and observant, augmenting their sensitivity to queer language and weaving their new perceptions and expanded vocabulary into their work.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback on writing you produce in our week; workshop work you bring from home.