IN PERSON: “I feel wholeheartedly that poetry isn’t going to stop the climate crisis and poetry is not going to save the world,” says Ada Limon, current poet laureate of the U.S. “But it has the potential to ground us again in what it is to feel fully human.” With that idea in mind, this course will focus on the voices of three award-winning contemporary female poets. Class sessions will be forums in which students critique and discuss their observations and opinions: Do these poems touch our hearts? Reflect our lives and concerns? What do we gain by reading recently published work? Topics include relationships with parents and significant others, childlessness, body image, health, grief and discrimination. We'll also consider how a poem’s form and topic work together to create art. While reading each collection is recommended, we will focus on selected poems when we meet. The course is designed for both literature lovers and practicing poets. | Facilitated discussion.
Max enrollment: 20.
Location: Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Rd, Durham NC 27705
Lavonne J. Adams taught both graduate and undergraduate courses at UNC-Wilmington, first for the Department of English, then for the Department of Creative Writing. Her publications include an award-winning poetry collection, two award-winning poetry chapbooks and more than 150 publications in prominent literary journals. She was awarded residencies at Vermont Studio Center, the Harwood Museum of Art (University of New Mexico-Taos) and The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.