Wednesday, December 2, 2026, 5:30pm – 7:30pm   

Meeting will take place in the Poetry Center's Alumni Room, Room 205; limit 12 students. 

SOLD OUT: Contact Paola Valenzuela at valenzuela9@arizona.edu to get on waitlist.

Paul Valéry once said, “A poem is never finished, only abandoned” which is a good late-night argument among friends, but not especially useful for poets who are trying to end a piece. Poems need some kind of resolution to reify the lines, stanzas, and trochees that precede the inevitable conclusion. In this session, we’re going to spend some time looking at the way writers such as James Baldwin, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Lucille Clifton, Jack Gilbert, and Robert Hayden shut things down in their work with an eye toward lifting their strategies for our own writing. The last part of the session will be interactive, so please bring a poem in progress with you to the session.