IN PERSON: How can we mine our life experiences for our poetry? What do we need to consider when writing about family? Is poetry fiction or nonfiction? Can we obscure details and characters and still keep our truth? In this forum, we will focus on narrative poetry — poetry that tells a story — and examine our own life experiences as material. We'll use prompts like family photos and artifacts as springboards into story. We'll examine narrative poems by contemporary poets to consider what they are willing to risk in their works. We'll ponder what it means to alter details, both big and small. Should we trust/assume the poet is writing from real life? As Emily Dickinson says, "Tell all the truth but tell it slant." The poetry workshop will be a big part of this course, along with discussions and writing prompts. We'll examine writing as a child from our adult perspective, creating family portraits, the place of conflict in narrative poetry, and looking at our personal family mythologies. | Facilitated discussion.
Max enrollment: 12.
Location: Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Rd, Durham NC 27705
