Making a Poem Memorable: Generative Workshop with Dorianne Laux (via Zoom)

What makes a poem memorable? Dave Smith says it’s “… a confident use of language which releases feeling and keeps releasing it with repeated readings.” Naomi Shihab Nye says for her it is, “Love and care for elemental details… and a way of ending that leaves a new resonance or a lit spark in the reader or listener’s mind.” We will take a close look at a variety of dazzling poems written by contemporary poets and seek to understand what makes them memorable. Then, we will practice imitation as a striving toward writing our own unforgettable poems.

NB: This is a generative writing class. Dorianne will give prompts and some people will be asked to share work but this is not a workshop nor is it a craft class.

This class will be held on Zoom. Scholarship information will be available November 15 and will be due on December 15. Please read the course policies page before signing up for any of our workshops.

Dorianne Laux’s sixth collection, Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon, won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women. She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry.