The Poetry Center is delighted to announce the Spring 2024 classes and workshops, a spectrum of subjects ranging from finding form, radical revision, exploring grief (and praise!), honoring ‘difficult work,’ and so much more! Writers at all levels are invited to join, and registration opens for all of our classes on December 12 at 10am.
General Registration: Open now
______
Writing With Fire: Finding Form in a Burning World with Gretchen E. Henderson
Saturday, January 6
9:30 am-12:30pm
Fires light the dark, warm hearths, open seed and cone, and burn strong enough to smelt metal and stone. In this writing workshop, we reimagine fire in our words—poetry, nonfiction, fiction, between & beyond—kindling lines and sentences, paragraphs and poetics of place, even heating our hearts. Learn more>
Only My Voice, Like A Flute: A Poetry Workshop on Grief (and Praise!) with Edgar Kunz
Wednesday, January 17
5:00-7:00pm
Among the most ancient forms we have is the elegy: a container for our loss. How do we give grief shape, make it mean something to someone else? And what does the impulse to share that grieving have to do with its twin: the equally-essential impulse to praise? In this generative workshop, we'll explore the elegy and the ode as vehicles for deep feeling and see if we can discover what possibilities are unlocked by combining the two. Learn more>
An Ecopoetics Sampler Course with Brenda Hillman
Wednesday, January 24
5:00-7:00pm
Ecopoetics could be called “worried nature poetry,” but it also unsettles comfort zones of language in phrases like “stem the crisis.” We will offer knowledge across disciplines in a place where science, history, and spirituality connect human and non-human experience. Since we are in Tucson, special attention will be paid to work we can do in desert environments. And if time allows, we will go outside and begin a weed opera. Learn more>
Very Friendly Lighthouses, or How to Continue with Matthew Zapruder
Wednesday, February 28
5:00-7:00pm
Much energy has been expended on how to begin a poem: writing practice, exercises, various other catalysts and temporary derangement. But once we have started and reached an impasse, how do we continue? How do we move through difficulties, and guide ourselves toward the strange, the familiar, the true? Come with a draft of a poem that is a single page or less, the rougher the better. Learn more>
The Art of the Remix: A Crash Course in Radical Revision with John Murillo
Wednesday, March 13
5:00-7:00pm
“Poetry,” writes Yusef Komunyakaa in his essay collection Blue Notes, “is an act of meditation and improvisation. And need is the motor that propels the words down the silent white space.” In this workshop, participants will consider various perspectives on the revision process and explore strategies for re-drafting poems-in-progress. Learn more>
Writing with Earth: Finding Form in an Uprooted World with Gretchen E. Henderson
Saturday, March 23
9:30-12:30pm
From dust to dirt, sediment to soil: what lies underfoot reflects the human condition. In this writing workshop, we reimagine the place of earth in our words—poetry, nonfiction, fiction, between & beyond—seeding renewable possibilities through lines and sentences, paragraphs and poetics of place, to unearth care for what may otherwise be trampled. Learn more>
Staying Outside: Strategies in Honor of "Difficult" Work with Saretta Morgan
Wednesday, March 27
5:00-7:00pm
We'll explore practices of engagement that side-step the drive to unlock the logic of a text and instead bring curiosity to the pleasures and discomforts produced through the physical act of reading. Learn more>
Scores for the Desert Future with Kimi Eisele
Saturdays, April 6, 13, and 20
10:00 am-12:00 pm
Climate chaos is here. The question is no longer “What can we do about it?” but “How will we live here?” In this course, we’ll explore and create poetic and visual scores to help us navigate our uncertain climate future. Learn more>
Whether you’re excited to “Write with Fire,” hone your voice, radically revise, or explore “Scores for the Desert Future,” you'll enjoy these craft classes and workshops with expert practitioners!
At 10am on December 12th, all courses will be live for registration via this link.
For those interested in the simple application for a scholarship for Spring 2024 classes, apply here. The scholarship window closes on December 5th at 5pm.
See you in class!
______
Special thanks to the Arnold Greenfield Scholarship program, which allows us to offer financial aid to cover the tuition cost of a course in the Classes & Workshops program. Through donor support, this financial aid program allows our classes to be accessible to writers who otherwise would face financial strain. Thank you for ensuring access to poetry belongs to everyone!