For Marianne Moore, genuine poetry contained “imaginary gardens with real toads in them.” Contemporary poetry has truly blossomed into a thicket of ideas and aesthetics, with all manner of amphibians. It is a superb time to join the ever-expanding community of writers bushwhacking into the unknown.
In this class, we will focus on creative strategies and experiment with various craft elements. Weekly in-class exercises will encourage honest risk-taking. Throughout the course, we’ll use the Best American Poetry 2016 anthology, supplemented with handouts, as our guide to possibilities and potential pitfalls in your poetry practice. The most important texts for the course will be the work of students, which will be read with compassion as well as constructive critique. Finally, we’ll discuss getting your work into the hands of a wider readership and opportunities to engage with the wider Houston literary community.
About the instructor
ERIKA JO BROWN is the author of the poetry collection I’m Your Huckleberry (Brooklyn Arts Press) and the chapbook What a Lark! (Further Adventures Press). She’s a graduate of Cornell University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She helps co-organize the Poison Pen Reading Series and works at MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital and the Menil Museum through WITS. Brown is a PhD candidate in poetry at the UH Creative Writing Program, where she teaches undergraduate creative writing, serves as the graduate advisor for Glass Mountain, and works as a poetry editor and reading series curator for Gulf Coast. She is the recipient of an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor/MD Anderson Foundation Fellowship.
By registering for an Inprint Writers Workshop you are agreeing to Inprint’s registration policies. Remember to sign up for the waiting list if the workshop you would like to take is full. To see the full Winter 2017 workshop schedule click here.
