As poets, we each write out of particular relationships to the world around us. We write out of (and/or against) homes, families, cultures, traditions, ecosystems, geologies, institutions, and nations. We write for ourselves, for each other, for our communities, for people who understand us or don’t understand, for that one person who might someday “get” what we mean. What is your location as a poet in the world? What are your goals as a poet? What delights, scares, or frustrates you about language? Who do you write for? How do your poems exist in relation to your classmates, your ancestors, your communities, and the other-than-human world?

In this course, we will practice skills of poetic craft as essentially connected to questions of relationality and place.

Tentative list of required reading:

• Anastacia-Reneé. Side Notes from the Archivist. Harper Collins, 2023.
• Blaeser, Kimberly. Ancient Light. University of Arizona Press, 2024.
• Chen, Chen. Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency. BOA Editions, 2022.
• Nye, Naomi Shihab. Cast Away: Poems for Our Time. Harper Collins, 2021.
• Additional poems will be linked to each writing prompt or reading reflection on Canvas.
• All craft readings will be linked or posted on Canvas.