This is an in-person workshop that takes place at Inprint House.
I believe two of the most significant concepts in poetry are concreteness and abstractions and I seek to understand the balance between the two. Some poems will lean more on creating a solid world for the reader to live in, while others will rely on conceptual ideas and images that feel less interconnected. There is no right or wrong side, but I feel poems that find ways to encapsulate both sides carry a special weight to them. Whether you try to create a balance between the two in your work or want to lean on one a lot more than the other, it’s important to be aware of how much space each takes up in your work. In this generative workshop, we will learn how to hone in on our own strengths of using concrete images and ideas, and abstract ones. We will explore the work of poets like Terrance Hayes, Solmaz Sharif, Natalie Diaz, Joy Priest, Marie Howe, Jean Valentine, Louise Gluck, Jack Gilbert, Etheridge Knight, William Carlos Williams, Linda Gregg, Diannely Antigua, Sharon Olds and more. Poets at any stage in their writing journey are welcome.
About the Instructor
JOSHUA BURTON is a poet and educator from Houston, TX and received his MFA in poetry at Syracuse University. He is a 2019 Tin House Winter Workshop Scholar, 2019 Juniper Summer Writing Institute scholarship winner, 2019 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics fellowship finalist, received the Honorable Mention for the 2018 Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize, 2020 Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing finalist, and a 2023 Elizabeth George Foundation grant recipient. His work can be found in Mississippi Review, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Conduit, TriQuarterly, Black Warrior Review, Grist, and Indiana Review. His chapbook Fracture Anthology is currently out with Ethel and his debut poetry collection Grace Engine is out with the University of Wisconsin Press.
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