The Writing Salon’s Craft Series offers writers an up-close opportunity to learn from and engage with an acclaimed author about the art and craft of writing. In our winter installment of the Craft Series, Brian Tierney will delve into various approaches to creating dynamic and surprising openings to poems and to developing closings that leave us with a sense of arrival, wonder, even awe.
“A poem’s beginning draws us in, establishing dramatic predicaments, setting tone and mood, and opening the world of the poem for writer and reader,” says Brian. “Endings can ask us to reflect or question, can startle or ground us.”
Over two Craft Series sessions, Brian will use example poems from his award-winning book, Rise and Float, as well as examples from other poets’ work, to show how titles can build a frame for a poem, how first lines can generate curiosity and momentum, and how last lines can create narrative arrival or a subtle power that stays with us long after we’ve finished reading.
Through generative in-class writing assignments and take-home activities, you will apply these varied approaches to your own poetry. With 3-5 poem drafts in hand, you can “break the mold” of first attempts, testing new approaches to free your poems into what they truly want to be.
About The Writing Salon's In-Person Classes
Before your class meets, you'll receive an email from The Writing Salon with more information about the class. If you have any questions about in-person learning, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@writingsalons.com.
Brian Tierney is the author of Rise and Float, winner of the 20-2021 Jake Adam York Prize (Milkweed, 2022). His poetry and prose have appeared in such journals as Paris Review, Kenyon Review, AGNI, New England Review, The Adroit Journal, and others. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and a graduate of the Bennington College MFA Writing Seminars, he was named among Narrative Magazine’s 2013 “30 Below 30” emerging writers, and is winner of the 2018 George Bogin Memorial Award from The Poetry Society of America. Raised in Philadelphia, he lives in Oakland, Ca., where he teaches poetry at The Writing Salon.
- Saturday, March 15, 10:00am-1:00pm
- Saturday, March 22, 10:00am-1:00pm
- This is an enthusiastic endorsement for Brian - I'm a long time educator so I know what to look for. Brian is well planned, knowledgeable and reflective. He's sensitive to the class and to individual needs as well as leading us to a wider appreciation of poetry and helping us to feel our way to what 'good' poetry means. He is careful not to get in the way of our individual creative processes nor to be too prescriptive. I recommend him without reservation.
Brian is an absolutely brilliant teacher of poetry and craft!