Say Less: Implication, Suggestion, and the Lyric Mode with Nathan McClain (via Zoom)

Lyric poetry, conventionally speaking, is far less interested in “what happened” than “how something felt”; when crafted effectively, it enacts “the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions” and allows readers access to that experience, that feeling. In this course, we’ll examine some of the how a lyric says and what it says without saying, or saying less. And we’ll consider craft techniques we might deploy in our own little lyrics. Participants may expect to read work by Charles Wright, Spencer Reece, Tommye Blount, Vievee Francis, and Linda Gregg, among others.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom 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 Dec 1 and will be due on Dec 15 for all winter/spring 2024 classes.

Nathan McClain is the author of Scale (Four Way Books, 2017) and Previously Owned (Four Way Books, 2022), a recipient of fellowships from The Frost Place, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and a graduate of the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson.  A Cave Canem fellow, his poems and prose have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Green Mountains Review, Zocalo Public Square, The Critical Flame, and On The Seawall, among others.  He teaches at Hampshire College and serves as Poetry Editor for The Massachusetts Review.