Poetry, more than other written forms, urges from language precision and music. In this workshop, participants will address lyrical requirements of poetry, as well as the risk that can make a poem sing. Over eight weeks, we will look at what fears limit our writing, which, if any, are unique to Middle Eastern poets today, and how to move beyond them to reach a fresh music that is our own. You will be pushed to move away from external expectations placed on (Middle Eastern) poets, toward writing according to your own urgent history and desire, writing what you need to write.
Questions addressed include music of a line, the significance of writing “what you know,” bearing witness, and traditional Middle Eastern forms (ghazal, qasida) written in English. By looking at poems written by Middle Easterners, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latinas, participants will explore how questions of exile, displacement, migration, and heritage can challenge and enrich one’s poetry.
Workshop time will be split between sample readings, writing in class, and providing peer critique. In concert, these will help us revise our poems with exactness, and to develop a language to defend and critique our work. This poetry workshop is open to any experience level in hopes of building a diverse community of Middle Eastern poets.
Reading materials will be supplied. Class size is limited to 10, first-come, first-served.
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