The Makery: Patterns in Poetry: A Workshop in Poetic Forms with Marianne Worthington
The form of a poem, writes poet Eavan Boland, “comes as a truth teller and intercessor from history itself, making structures of language, making music of feeling.” This course focuses on studying and writing several poetic forms. We’ll reflect on two or three different poetry forms each week, define and study examples, then practice writing during that week. We will also have generative writing time during our in-person sessions.
In each weekly two-hour, in-person Zoom meeting, we’ll discuss and investigate different poetic forms. During the week, we’ll experiment with writing and posting these forms in our online (asynchronous) writing workshop. Further readings and examples of each form will be posted in our online forum for easy access. Some of the poetic forms we’ll study include the sonnet, ghazal, golden shovel, pantoum, contrapuntal, sestina, centos, and erasures. We’ll consider other forms as well as various approaches to these forms and best practices for using them.
All are welcome. This course can be useful to those of us new to poetry as well as those of us who have more experience and want to sharpen craft skills. As Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux note: “The restrictions of form push you to be more resourceful, to find the language you need. This not only teaches you a lot about language, but it’s also a lot of fun.”
Wednesday, April 23: 6-8 p.m. Live Zoom Class
Wednesday, April 30: 6-8 p.m. Live Zoom Class
Wednesday, May 7: 6-8 p.m. Live Zoom Class
*Instructor will send links to live sessions prior to meeting.
About the Instructor
Marianne Worthington is author of The Girl Singer (University Press of Kentucky, 2021), winner of the 2022 Weatherford Award for Poetry. Her work has appeared in Oxford American, CALYX, Five South, Swing, and Salvation South, among other places. She cofounded and was poetry editor of Still: The Journal, an online literary magazine publishing writers, artists, and musicians with ties to Appalachia (2009-2024). Her second book of poems, Water. Witness. Word., is forthcoming from Belle Point Press. She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, and lives, writes, and teaches in southeastern Kentucky.
