SUNDAY POETS: A GENERATIVE ONLINE WORKSHOP
When: Sundays, May 1–June 26, 2–4:30 p.m. Eastern (skip May 29/Memorial Day Weekend)
Where: Zoom
For: Anyone who reads or writes poetry—or wants to start. No previous writing experience necessary.
Cost: $20 per session, 10% discount if paid in full by April 30 (otherwise, pay weekly)
Available seats: 10
WORKSHOP FORMAT
The focus of this workshop will be on close reading of poems that we’ll use to cultivate the writing of our own poems. We'll begin each session with a brief talk or reflection on craft or the writing life intended not to lecture or instruct but to give participants ideas to reflect on vis-à-vis the working life of a poet. Next, from a packet I'll provide each week, we'll read poems together using what I call my generative reading practice (more on this below). After a short break, we'll reconvene to discuss participants’ poems through gentle and generous critique (not criticism). I'll also provide resources and additional readings each week around the theme of the talk or reflection. Our Sunday sessions will be held on Zoom, and we’ll have a shared Canvas site where you will access everything needed for the workshop. If you want detailed written feedback on workshop poems from me, let me know when you're signing up, and add $5 to each week's payment (or the equivalent, if paying in full).
WHAT IS GENERATIVE READING?
The idea behind generative reading is that anything that interests us from what we can notice and articulate in a poem is a point of origin for our next poem. When we read generatively, we are attentive not only to subject matter, but also to tropes, stylistic choices, and forms of expression. We're noticing the poet’s “moves” in terms of craft, especially those that are surprising and/or interesting to us as options for our own work. We're attentive to words and phrases that tug at something in us: images that beckon memories or deep feelings; words and syntactical patterns that feel somehow familiar or full of possibility; metaphors and language we feel in the body—anything that makes us want to grab a pen and write.
The idea is not to write in imitation of the poem at hand, nor is it that our next poem is out there, fully extant and ready to be plucked from the ether. However, observing and articulating a specific poem’s moves can lead us each to our next poem if we are attentive to what moves us. You will leave each session with many prompts—but rather than being arbitrary, these prompts will be based on the place(s) where a poem touches down on the map of your interior life, your mind, your memories, and your interest in what poetry or a poem can do and be.
MY STANCE AS INSTRUCTOR
We will be fellow poets, exploring poetry together. Although I will do the legwork—preparing craft talks and reflections, leading the workshop, and providing additional resources—my goal is not to instruct but to facilitate: to help you tune in to your own work, your own interests, and your own poet's mind.
LOGISTICS
Interested? To register, email me (mollycspencer at gmail—don't miss the 'c' tucked in the middle!) with "Sunday Poets" in the subject line and pay for the first session ($20) at PayPal (@mollycspencer). If the cost presents a hardship for you, please get in touch so we can talk about what might work for you. Payment is week by week on the Friday of a given week’s class meeting, or receive a 10% discount if paid in full by April 30. I offer week-by-week payment in an effort to make the cost manageable for those who may not be able to pay in full before the class starts, but please plan on paying for and attending every week if you sign up for the class—this best allows us to create a community of poets working in concert for the time we have together.
When: Sundays, May 1–June 26, 2–4:30 p.m. Eastern (skip May 29/Memorial Day Weekend)
Where: Zoom
For: Anyone who reads or writes poetry—or wants to start. No previous writing experience necessary.
Cost: $20 per session, 10% discount if paid in full by April 30 (otherwise, pay weekly)
Available seats: 10
WORKSHOP FORMAT
The focus of this workshop will be on close reading of poems that we’ll use to cultivate the writing of our own poems. We'll begin each session with a brief talk or reflection on craft or the writing life intended not to lecture or instruct but to give participants ideas to reflect on vis-à-vis the working life of a poet. Next, from a packet I'll provide each week, we'll read poems together using what I call my generative reading practice (more on this below). After a short break, we'll reconvene to discuss participants’ poems through gentle and generous critique (not criticism). I'll also provide resources and additional readings each week around the theme of the talk or reflection. Our Sunday sessions will be held on Zoom, and we’ll have a shared Canvas site where you will access everything needed for the workshop. If you want detailed written feedback on workshop poems from me, let me know when you're signing up, and add $5 to each week's payment (or the equivalent, if paying in full).
WHAT IS GENERATIVE READING?
The idea behind generative reading is that anything that interests us from what we can notice and articulate in a poem is a point of origin for our next poem. When we read generatively, we are attentive not only to subject matter, but also to tropes, stylistic choices, and forms of expression. We're noticing the poet’s “moves” in terms of craft, especially those that are surprising and/or interesting to us as options for our own work. We're attentive to words and phrases that tug at something in us: images that beckon memories or deep feelings; words and syntactical patterns that feel somehow familiar or full of possibility; metaphors and language we feel in the body—anything that makes us want to grab a pen and write.
The idea is not to write in imitation of the poem at hand, nor is it that our next poem is out there, fully extant and ready to be plucked from the ether. However, observing and articulating a specific poem’s moves can lead us each to our next poem if we are attentive to what moves us. You will leave each session with many prompts—but rather than being arbitrary, these prompts will be based on the place(s) where a poem touches down on the map of your interior life, your mind, your memories, and your interest in what poetry or a poem can do and be.
MY STANCE AS INSTRUCTOR
We will be fellow poets, exploring poetry together. Although I will do the legwork—preparing craft talks and reflections, leading the workshop, and providing additional resources—my goal is not to instruct but to facilitate: to help you tune in to your own work, your own interests, and your own poet's mind.
LOGISTICS
Interested? To register, email me (mollycspencer at gmail—don't miss the 'c' tucked in the middle!) with "Sunday Poets" in the subject line and pay for the first session ($20) at PayPal (@mollycspencer). If the cost presents a hardship for you, please get in touch so we can talk about what might work for you. Payment is week by week on the Friday of a given week’s class meeting, or receive a 10% discount if paid in full by April 30. I offer week-by-week payment in an effort to make the cost manageable for those who may not be able to pay in full before the class starts, but please plan on paying for and attending every week if you sign up for the class—this best allows us to create a community of poets working in concert for the time we have together.