Class Description
Writer, theorist, and thinker, Katherine Mckittrick says, ""No space just is."" How then do we write about spaces and how do we conceive of them? We know that spaces vary and range from environments that are cities - a forest to an ocean; a city or a reservation. From this broad perspective, we will consider spaces, examine cities, think through the landscape, and poke underneath nature. We will look at how poets challenge the neutrality of space by examining their poems and discussing their choices. We will discuss what their poems do to spaces and how they do it. We will read Dionne Brand, Miguel Bacho, Vievee Francis, Mosab Abu Toha, and others.
Our eventual goal will be to generate one new poem that counters the hierarchy of space in our political climate. Together we’ll read through a collection of poems during the first half leaving time to read through poetry prompts - these will be our drafts for poems. For the second half, we’ll workshop poems by using a one-sentence question for feedback. We’ll think through strategies from our readings to inform our writing leaving time to share for those who want to.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.