Spring 2008
Introductory Poetry Workshop – Frank Lima
Tuesdays At 7pm: 10 Sessions Begin February 12
This workshop will engage you with poems of the New York
School, in addition to some South American poets such as Neruda and Vallejo.
You’ll receive weekly writing assignments that aim to expand your range and
encourage you to take chances, from writing sestinas to more contemporary
approaches. Vigorous attention will be placed on editing your poems. Guest
poets will visit the workshop from time to time to discuss their work.
Frank
Lima was born in New York and studied with
both Kenneth Koch and Frank O’Hara. He is the author of Inventory,
among other titles, and has written two opera librettos.
Poetry And The Visual Arts – Vincent Katz
Thursdays At 7pm: 5 Sessions Begin February 14
Poetry has had a long and fruitful symbiosis with the visual arts; this
workshop will examine some of the relationships and ways that a deeper
understanding of the visual arts can enhance one's writing and understanding of
poetry. We will look at collaborations between visual artists and
poets, the effect of the visual on modern and contemporary poets, and Pound's
division of logopoeia/melopoeia/phanopoeia and phanopoeia's possible meanings.
Poets who have worked as art critics and poets who have been alive to
visual art's stimulations whose work we will discuss include Baudelaire,
Apollinaire, Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Robert Creeley, Ron
Padgett, Anne Waldman, Bill Berkson, Ted Berrigan, Joe Brainard,
Eileen Myles, John Yau, and Carter Ratcliff.
Vincent Katz is a
poet, translator, art critic, editor, and curator. He is the author of nine books of poetry, including Understanding
Objects.
Know Your Place: Experiments In The Eco-Sphere –
Lisa Jarnot
Fridays At 7pm: 10 Sessions Begin February 15th
What is or what can be a writer's relation to space and place? In what ways are
ecology and environment intrinsic to creative awareness beyond the stereotypes
of mytho-poetic tree worship? How does one transform the particular flora,
fauna, and detritus of the domestic into vibrant art? These are the questions
we'll ask as we plot a course deep into our own "environments".
Weekly readings will be complemented with exercises, experiments, and on-site
writing. We'll move through Zukofsky's New York, Olson's Gloucester, Allen
Ginsberg's apartment, Hannah Weiner's sink, Berrigan's Cranston Near the City
Line, Juliana Spahr's Dole Street, and C.S. Giscombe's Giscome Road.
Lisa
Jarnot's fourth book of poems, Night
Scenes, is forthcoming from Flood Editions in early 2008. She has
taught at Naropa, Bard College, Wesleyan University, and Brooklyn College.
The Poet In The Library: Research And Imaginative Writing
– Jill Magi
Saturdays At Noon: 10 Sessions Begin February 16th
Is there a role for research in imaginative or creative
writing projects? Sure! In this workshop we’ll combine prior knowledge with
curiosity, creating opportunities to “stumble upon” interesting language and
images. We’ll develop research questions to accompany our intuitive and
imaginative writings; search for materials in books, historical documents,
articles, newspapers; take field trips to public archives, libraries, and
historical sites; experiment with using found text; explore ways to structure a
long poem, including the possibility of creating a hybrid text, and a text that
includes visuals. All along, we’ll take a look at works by Susan Howe, Gale
Jackson, Claudia Rankine, Juliana Spahr, and others, and the visual/text work
of Mary Kelly, Lorna Simpson, The Atlas Group, and others.
Jill Magi is the author of Threads and Torchwood. She runs Sona Books.
The workshop fee is $350, which includes a one year Sustaining Poetry Project membership and tuition for any and all spring and fall classes. Reservations are required due to limited class space, and payment must be received in advance. Caps on class sizes, if in effect, will be determined by workshop leaders. Please send payment and reservations to:
The Poetry Project,
St. Mark's Church
Attn: Workshops
131 East 10th St.
NYC, NY 10003
For more information, or to pay by credit card, please call (212) 674-0910, or email: info@poetryproject.com.
All workshops will be held in the Parish Hall at St. Mark's Church on the corner of 10th St. and 2nd Ave.
