3 Sundays, September 11 – September 25, 7-9:30pm
$145 members/$165 others
Testimonials for Alison
Sonnets, villanelles and ghazals, oh my! “These forms can be like jungle gyms for the poet,” says instructor Alison Luterman, “letting us break out of our language ruts, and play with rhyme, meter, and the challenge of fitting contemporary content into an old-fashioned container. Some poets, like Molly Peacock, follow the traditional form to the letter, and yet make it fresh. Others, like Ted Berrigan, turn the form inside-out, and make a gorgeous post-Modern splash painting out of it.”
We’ll spend one evening on each of these forms and we’ll look at classic examples as well as contemporary writers, both those who strive to stay within the lines of the form, and those who defiantly bend it to their own purposes. We’ll read, talk, laugh, experiment, and write in a judgement-free zone.
“My hope in this workshop is that we’ll all get a few good starts for our own poems,” says Alison. “This class is especially for those poets who would like to expand their vocabulary and syntax, and see what playing with form can do to re-vivify their poetry practice.”
Alison Luterman loves to “rough up” traditional forms. She is the author of three books of poetry, including Desire Zoo, from Tia Chucha Press. www.alisonluterman.net