New Online Class, Triggering Poetic Inspiration

Location: Online

Where do poem ideas come from? Finding a way to sustain poetry writing beyond those first emotion-driven poems that we just have to write is often the challenge facing poets who have been writing for a while. In this class, we will be reading and discussing Richard Hugo’s excellent book on poetic inspiration and poetry writing, The Triggering Town. Each week we will read one of the book’s eight short chapters and discuss what we find there. We will also write a new poem from a prompt and post it for discussion and feedback. Poets will come out of this class with eight new poems, as well as some new tools for generating inspiration and ideas.The class is structured so that each week, you will follow this pattern. Although the class weeks officially start on Mondays, I will usually post the week’s materials on the previous Friday afternoon, so that those who want to can get a head start over the weekend.

Students will:

1.  Read a chapter in The Triggering Town.

2.  Participate in an asynchronous discussion about the chapter.

3.  Read and respond to prompts with drafts of their own poems, and give feedback to one another on drafts.

4.  Participate in a live chat, at the discretion of the class—this will be scheduled (or not) after the class begins.

Enter Early Bird Promo Code EBWS14P15 by December 13, 2013 and receive $20 off the regular and member class price. Promo codes only valid for online registrations.