Creative Writing: Poetry - Writing the Weird

This introductory poetry course is a space for students to form their own poetry writing community based on thoughtful readership, discussion, and experimentation. Over the course of two weeks, they will closely read and analyze a wide range of contemporary poems—specifically the work of writers who engage deeply with the strange, the disarming, and the absurd—in order to develop the skills necessary for generating and workshopping as a class their own original poems. The course will culminate with a poetry reading and the production of a class chapbook featuring the work of every student. Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

• Recognize the basic craft choices that contemporary writers make in their poems
• Produce original creative writing employing fundamental elements of poetry
• Clearly communicate notes, comments, and critiques in a workshop setting
• Understand the importance of writing as a community.

Students will experience freedom for creative exploration, a sense of collaboration, experimentation, and play.