Writers in the Mountains will present “Toward a Radical Poetics” with Lissa Kiernan, November 5 to December 10. The class will be held Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Poetry Barn, 1693 State Route 28A, West Hurley, NY.
This new, 6-week workshop will explore and foster poetry that bears witness to social injustice, raises awareness, disturbs silence and inspires positive change. Students will learn a variety of techniques (metaphor, humor, compression, hyperbole) and study several poetic sub-genres (found, formal, persona and documentary poetry) that help to distill the poetic from the polemic.
We’ll perform close-readings of the works of poets who have repeatedly given voice to complex social issues such as war, race, sexuality, gender and human, environmental, worker and animal rights — from the greats (Langston Hughes, Audre Lorde, Muriel Rukeyser, Denise Levertov) to the lates (Nikki Finney, Martin Espada, Camille Rankin, Cate Marvin) — together with weekly generative exercises designed to be open to the full spectrum of opinions and viewpoints, (left-leaning to right, pro or con) and thoughtful peer feedback.
Lissa Kiernan is the founder of the Poetry Barn in West Hurley. She is the author of Two Faint Lines in the Violet, published by Negative Capability Press in 2014. Her work can be found in numerous journals and anthologies, including Podium Literary Journal of the 92nd Street Y and The Yale Journal for the Humanities in Medicines, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She holds her MFA in creative writing/poetry from Stonecoast and an MA in media studies from The New School.
To register for this class, call Jean Stone at (607) 326-4802, or e-mail her at jtstone@catskill.net. Class fee is $125.
