Falling into Revelation through Form with Subhaga Crystal Bacon (via Zoom)

The first formal poem to really sink its teeth into me was “One Art,” by Elizabeth Bishop. Something about using the fussiness of the villanelle to contain and express the heartache of a breakup, particularly of a lesbian relationship in the closeted 1970’s, spoke to me of Bishop’s particular combination of woundedness and genius. In the essay, “What Form Can Hold,” Philip Metres says Writing in received form offers us a vessel . . . for containing what could not be held otherwise . . . turning our attention into a wrestling with limits rather than worrying about content . . . Falling into a form can trick us into saying something . . . the form opens a space for us to surprise ourselves into revelation. In this class, we’ll look at poems in traditional forms that accomplish this surprise. . . revelation and take away some prompts to help trick us into our own surprising revelations.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom (Saturday, November 2, 12:30-2:30 PM ET) and will be capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder. Please review the course policies page before registering for any classes. Please email misty@writerscenter.org with any questions.

All HVWC scholarship applications will be available on May 1 and will be due on May 15 for all summer/fall 2024 classes.

Subhaga Crystal Bacon (she/they), is the author of four collections of poetry including Transitory, 2023, winner of the BOA Editions, Ltd. Isabella Gardner Award for Poetry; Surrender of Water in Hidden Places, winner of the Red Flag Poetry Chapbook Prize, 2023; Blue Hunger, from Methow Press, 2020, and Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey, winner of the A. Poulin New Poetry America Prize from BOA Editions in 2004. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, Subhaga is a teaching artist working in schools and libraries with youth and adults, as well as private students. Their work appears in a variety of print and online journals including The Diode Poetry Journal, The Bellevue Literary Review, Indianapolis Review, Smartish Pace, and others. A Queer elder, they live in rural northcentral Washington on unceded Methow land.