The Deep Dive: Poem As Self-Discovery

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.

—Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck

In this six-week workshop, we will be writing poetry about things that exist below the surface—memory, desire, family, love, secrets, dreams, wishes, disappointments, heartaches. Often, it is through writing that we discover, as Adrienne Rich writes, the treasures that prevail.

In each week of the workshop, we’ll map a distinct route into our deeper selves, from memory and dream to poetry as prayer. You will write one or more new poems each week based on our exploration.

Through writing prompts, reading, and kind, loving feedback, we will be working together to generate poetry that explores what it is to be human, and learn techniques for mining the riches of our lives.

Learning Goals

In this course, you will:

• Develop a fresh practice to look deeper into the self for inspiration.
• Gain a toolkit of new skills to expand your poetry practice.
• Get comfortable trying new things while expressing yourself in poetry in a supportive and safe environment.
• Establish a regular writing schedule to keep generating and exploring new work.
• Learn what journals to submit to, to send your work out into the world.

Writing Goals

In this course, you will write at least 5 new poems (1-3 per week).

Weekly Zoom Schedule

We’ll meet on Zoom once a week, from 6 PM to 8 PM Eastern on Wednesdays.

Class Syllabus

Week 1: Self-Portraits

We will be looking at exploring our relationship to ourselves, focusing on imagery, learning new ways to look at ourselves within and without, inspired by Chen Chen’s poem, “Self Portrait as So Much Potential,” and Meghan Sterling’s “Self-Portrait with Quilt and Synesthesia,” we will be writing our own Self-Portrait Poems.

Homework: Self Portrait Poem 14-25 lines in length and reading fellow student work before the first class.

Week 2: Sleep and Dreams

We will be focusing on structuring our poems around our sleep and our dreams. We will use anaphora and epistrophe to help us do so. We will be looking at examples by Edward Hirsch and Sharon Olds. We will write, “In the dream…” poems.

Homework: Write a poem about sleeping and/or dreaming that employs both anaphora and epistrophe 3 times each—14-25 lines in length. Student work reading.

Week 3: Prayer

We will be focusing on poetry as prayer, hope, wish, praise, looking at “Prayer for My Unborn Niece” by Ross Gay and “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Homework: Write a 20-30 line poem that begins with the line, “Every poem is a prayer.” Student work reading.

Week 4: Memory

We will be looking at our childhood memories and new ways of telling them, trying out a list poem by looking at Danez Smith’s “alternate names for black boys” and lyric poems by looking at “The Dead” by Susan Mitchell.

Homework: Write a list poem about childhood joys/sorrows and a 14-line poem about your memory of going to bed as a child. Student work reading.

Week 5: Celebration and Grief

We will be looking at ways to celebrate and grieve experiences in our lives (sickness, loss, growth, milestones) through our poetry. Looking at “Untitled” by Jason Schinder and “The Wild iris” by Louise Gluck.

Homework: Write a 14-line poem about the last time you saw something stunningly beautiful. Then write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something terribly sad. Can you weave these poems together? Student work reading.

Week 6: Snapshot/Still Life Poems

We will be writing Snapshot poems, or “Still Life” poems—a poem that holds an image in its center. We will look at examples by Diane Seuss, Susan Rich, and Meghan Sterling. We will write the poem together and share as a class. We will also discuss journals to send work to.