Poem as Container
How does a poem hold emotional weight?
In this generative poetry workshop, students will explore how contemporary poets create emotional resonance through image systems, repetition, compression, silence, pacing, and associative movement. Rather than focusing on traditional form, this class investigates how emotional pressure shapes structure and language.
Through readings, discussion, prompts, and in-class writing, participants will generate new work rooted in recurring imagery, emotional tension, obsession, memory, and embodied experience. Read work by poets such as Marie Howe, Ada Limón, Ilya Kaminsky, Sharon Olds, Aracelis Girmay, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, and Mark Doty.
This workshop is ideal for poets and hybrid writers interested in creating work that feels emotionally layered, image-driven, and structurally alive.