Sem. 1 Workshops

Satirical Poetry [Tues. 22nd Oct. 4-6pm, room 21 AC 03.]

What is satire, and what distinguishes it from irony? If certain figureheads – such as Boris Johnson or Donald Trump – seem to eat, sleep, and breathe ridicule, has satire been evacuated of efficacy? Is it dead? Or has the increase in political partisanship in the public sphere led to an uptick in satirical output? In this workshop we’ll look at prominent examples of satirical poetry, including work by Jonathan Swift and last year’s poet-in-residence Verity Spott. Then we will think about what vices or indeed public figures we should satirize, and try our hand at composing satirical verse. 

Though this workshop was some time ago, I'm still tweaking/adding context to the handout, but it will be available here soon.

Speculative, or SF, Poetry [Tues. 12th Nov. 4-6pm, room 21 AC 03.] 

What do science fiction poems look like? In our technologically-advanced and ecologically-collapsing present, could we think of all poetry of the present as science fiction? Why? Why not? Are there similarities between the composition of poetry and science fiction? What is the relationship between world-building and cosmology and poetry? We’ll look at why Samuel R. Delany thinks science fiction and poetry are similar, and talk about some poems by Fred Moten, Clifton Gachagua, and D.S. Marriott in relation to these questions. We will then try our hand at including science-fictional elements in our poetry.

The handout is available here.

Bad Poetry [Tues. 10th Dec. 4-6pm, room 21 AC 03.]  

By what criteria do we assess works of poetry? What happens when you try to write bad work? Is my poetry bad? From what position is this (self-)assessment made? What do you do with your bad drafts? This workshop will take a look at some poems by William McGonagall, as well as explicit poetic and theoretical takes on badness in poetry by Wendy Trevino and Diana Hamilton. Gesturing forward and outward to the phenomena of ‘so-bad-its-good’ works, such as the film The Room (2003), we’ll have a think about why ‘bad’ art can be so endearing and, indeed, draw so much attention. Then we’ll create some ‘bad’ poetry.

The handout is available here.