Contemporary Voices in American Poetry

Taking inspiration from a diversity of poets, this one-day workshop will encourage students to explore a range of contemporary poetry as they uncover their own talents and voice. We will spend the first part of the class discussing the work of contemporary poets and then dive into student work for the majority of the day. Students will be expected to turn their poems in, via email, ahead of the class, and to read and comment on each other’s work ahead of each class, so that a thorough consideration can be given the work. Students will be encouraged to bring in favorite contemporary poems to share with the class. We will also use part of the class to free write based on generative exercises inspired by the poems we read.

Saturday 12/20/2014 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

LYNN MELNICK is the author of If I Should Say I Have Hope(YesYes Books), one of Coldfront Magazine’s Top 40 Poetry Books of 2012, and the co-editor, with Brett Fletcher Lauer, of Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation (Viking, 2015). Her poetry has appeared in The New Republic, The Paris Review, A Public Space, and elsewhere. She has written essays and book reviews forBoston Review, LA Review of Books, and Poetry Daily, among others. She teaches poetry at the 92nd St. Y and with Parachute Literary Arts and is the social media & outreach director for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

Register at http://writerscenter.org/courses/contemporary-voices-in-american-poetry