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.

Students who have taken three or more terms of a six-week class are eligible for Level 2 or an Intermediate class.

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 poetry chapbook contest. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in TriQuarterly, The Sun, Massachusetts Review, New Ohio Review, The Southern Review, Sho, Allium, Verse Daily, Hotel Amerika, Salamander, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Chautauqua, Kestrel, Gyroscope Review, The Southampton Review, Calyx, Cimarron Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction (2nd-place competition prize), Tiferet, Anglican Theological Review, PANK, Christian Century, and Literary Field Guide to Northern Appalachia (University of Georgia Press), among other publications. She has received two Pushcart Prizes, a Fugue Poetry Prize, honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and has been featured in podcasts, including The Writer’s Almanac. The U.N. Network on Migration featured her poem "Yoho" in its 2022 exhibition. She is a graduate of Princeton University. Lisa is working on new collections of poetry and short fantasy prose.