Surprise is the backbone of any poem. Join award-winning poet Kelly Grace Thomas for a four-week generative course where we focus on creating poems that echo long after they’re read. This course will teach how to use concrete tools such as effective volta, surprising leaps, full-circle tension, and unexpected imagery for maximum power and piercing effects. Reading a mix of narrative and surreal poetry, you will learn how to sharpen the ache and awe, learning how to engage in familiar topics in fresh, unfamiliar ways. We will read and discuss poems by Franny Choi, Chen Chen, Shira Erlichman, Ocean Vuong, and more. 

In this workshop, participants will:

• Learn how to texture, turn, and complicate so each line feels fresh 

• Receive concrete tools to propel, momentum, and tension

• Garner new language that delivers precision, punch, and power

• Tighten syntax, word choice, and imagery to amplify emotion 

• Leave each workshop with three new drafts