Class

Translating Life Experience Into Poetry

What do we do with what moves us to write a poem? Too frequently does something occur in our lives that seems, to us, profound—the start, the raw material, of a poem!—only for us struggle to communicate its significance when it comes time to write. The problem, as we will discuss in this class, often lies in the discovery of the form, the structure, of our subjective experiences.

This class will examine poetry writing as a practice and a craft, help students generate new writing, and understand how our daily experiences happen to influence it.

This class is intended for students of poetry at all levels, and will require reading craft text(s) and completing generative prompts before each class; the class will fuse the craft essay reading, group discussion, generative prompts, and a descriptive workshop model to address the difficulties inherent to translating everyday experience to what becomes the art of the poem.

After the course, students will leave with a deepened understanding of the craft elements of poetry, a portfolio of new work based on the generative prompt, and an appreciation of how to effectively structure one's experience as material for a poem.

No class June 30.

Instructions for Accessing This Online Class

In order to access live class meetings, you must have the Zoom application downloaded to your computer. You will also need a WiFi/Internet connection throughout the duration of your scheduled meeting and a computer with audio and video capability. The information to join your Zoom classroom will be provided in your confirmation email upon registration. Please check spam folders if you do not see this email upon registration. For more information on how to use Zoom, please see our training manual here.

Some classes use a supplemental Google Classroom page. Should your teaching artist use Google Classroom, you will be invited to join the classroom via email at least 24 hours in advance of your class (check spam folders if you are not seeing this invitation). Please note that Google Classroom requires a Gmail address to access the Classroom. If you do not have a Gmail account, the email invitation will be sent to the email address we have on file and will prompt you to create a free account or enter an existing account to join the classroom. If we are unable to send an email invitation to your non-gmail account, you will be contacted by a staff member to provide a Gmail address. If you do not have a Gmail account, you can create a free account here. Should you have concerns about this, please contact a Loft staff member at [email protected] or 612-379-8999. For more information on how to use Google Classroom, please see our training manual here.