Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips has written that “at the end of the day, poetry is patterned language.” The relationship between pattern and what he calls “the meaningful disruption of that pattern” gives poetry the muscularity required to become memorable.
In this generative writing workshop, participants will closely examine poems that effectively deploy, reinforce, and subvert patterns, which also helps manage the poem’s tension and a reader’s expectation. We’ll also think about how established patterns and disruption can create nuance and import in our work to create what we hope are memorable poems. Participants may read poems by Carl Phillips, James Wright, Lucille Clifton, Ross Gay, and Jericho Brown, among others.
This Zoom workshop is open to writers at all levels, and limited to ten students. Please review the course policies page before registering for any class. Email pdonnelly@frostplace.org with questions.
Cost is $150.00.
About the Instructor
Nathan McClain is the author of Previously Owned (2022) and Scale (2017), both from Four Way Books. His poems and prose have recently appeared The Hopkins Review, Poetry Daily, Guesthouse, and Poetry Northwest. He teaches at Hampshire College and serves as poetry editor for the Massachusetts Review.
Read more: https://www.nathanmcclain.com/