Are you a dedicated prose writer, but sometimes just want to write a poem? (As Vladimir Nabokov wrote, “You have to saturate yourself with English poetry in order to compose English prose.”) Have you written poetry on your own, maybe secretly, and want to learn more? Do you take writing classes and, increasingly, ask yourself whether you could try your hand at writing a poem?

In this six-week class, we will try poetry-writing exercises based on accessible, yet artistically challenging and satisfying, models from poets such as Danez Smith, Denise Duhamel, Victoria Chang, and Alberto Rios. Each week's exercise focuses on one basic poetic technique. The last week offers an opportunity to work on either a revision or a poetic form exercise. In the weekly, unrecorded live classes via Google Meet, we will share work, offer feedback, and discuss the next week’s exercise. All are welcome. For six weeks, be a poet!

This class is open to new, current, and returning Writers Studio students and meets weekly via Google Meet. The Google Meets are not recorded.

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Instructor(s)

Writers Studio Teacher

Lisa Bellamy

Lisa Bellamy is the author of The Northway, a full-length poetry collection (Terrapin Books). Her chapbook Nectar won The Aurorean’s chapbook contest. Her poems and short prose have appeared in TriQuarterly, The Sun, Massachusetts Review, New Ohio Review, The Southern Review, Verse Daily, Hotel Amerika, Salamander, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Chautauqua, The Southampton Review, Calyx, Cimarron Review,Fugue, Tiferet, PANK, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, among other publications. She has received a Pushcart Prize, a Fugue Poetry Prize, honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and has been featured in several podcasts, including The Writer’s Almanac. She is a graduate of Princeton University. Lisa is currently working on new collections of poetry and short prose.