Poetry and Place

“The bond between poetry and place has always been crucial to me,” says instructor Nate Klug. “Nowadays more than ever, when our environments are changing in rapid, complicated ways, we need poetry to remind us how to look at where we are.”

In this course, we will read and write poems that explore place in its different manifestations. We’ll examine the art’s affinities with nature writing, and talk about how modern poetry approaches the city. We will also delve into imaginary zones, places known only by memory and dream.

Lorine Niedecker, Li Po, and Frank O’Hara will be some of the examples we learn from in class. Outside of class, students will work on a new poem each week, from the notebook poem, to the haiku, to more organic responses to place. Drawing inspiration from the diversity of ecosystems here in the Bay Area, we will jump feet-first into creating our own environments of lines, words, and sounds.