Many beginning poets become quickly proficient with alliteration — the repetition of beginning sounds in nearby words — “lurk late” or “strike straight” or “jazz June” (examples from the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks). The problem that occurs often is that they begin to overuse alliteration and rely on it too much. In this intermediate poetry workshop, we will explore other ways of patterning sound in poems — assonance, consonance, rhyme, onomatopoeia, and of course, alliteration as well — esp. more advanced applications of these techniques, such as rich consonance and slant rhyme. This class is geared toward those who are fairly experienced already in writing poems. Before the workshop, you will send me three poems in which you are expressly playing with sound. In the course of the weekend you will also write one poem applying sound concepts we discuss in class. We will workshop your poems in class and discuss how better to work with sound. Our goal in the workshop is to help you become more aware of your use of sonic effects and improve how you employ sound. What you will find after the workshop is that your growing skills in using sound in poems will affect all your writing, not just poems but other genres as well, even nonfiction essays.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments, provide feedback on writing you produce in our weekend, and critique writing you bring from home.

In his poem “A Course in Creative Writing” William Stafford writes that students of poetry “want a wilderness with a map.” In this beginning poetry workshop, we will begin to explore the wilderness of poetry writing with three basic elements: image, sound, and form. This class will provide a map for poets who are starting out, as well as those who have written a bit and would like to expand their skills. Before we meet, you will send me five poems — yes, even if they are your first poems ever — and during our week together you will write a poem or two. We will workshop your poems in class, that is, discuss them in terms of craft and technique as well as meaning and import. Our overall goal is to help you be comfortable in the wilderness of poetry and begin to think of yourself as a poet. After this workshop, you should be able to write a poem you can be proud of and also express your opinions and observations about poems and poetry. Stafford ends his poem, “a world begins under the map.” That is the world where I hope we all end up, where poetry is no longer a wilderness.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments, provide feedback on writing you produce in our week, and critique writing you bring from home.