Do your poems ignite in form or flurry? Are you a counter, a feeler, a connector, or a mess? A tinkerer or an iterator? Do your lines tend to blossom or knot? In this poetry workshop we’ll read and respond to participant poems with attention to control and chaos (not mutually exclusive) and how they manifest in one’s subjects, processes, revision practices, and endings. This class will be generative, joyful, energetic, and inquisitive. We’ll begin the week by sharing participant-made “calibration bouquets” (a small collection of what influences or provokes your writing) in order to quickly get to know each other’s work. Though our discussions will center participant writing, we’ll also take a look at poems by Lo Kwa Mei-en, Harryette Mullen, Oliver Baez Bendorf, and Lauren Shapiro—all writers interested in the intersection of turmoil and structure. This workshop is open to poets at all levels with a desire to explore what makes a poem fit together or fall apart. Each participant will workshop at least three poems, and our week together will include a one-on-one conference and personalized reading list. 

In this workshop, we will offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week; workshop writing you bring from home.