Poetry as experience — March April

Poetry as Experience

Saturdays, 10am–12:45pm
March 8, 15, 22, 29 + April 5

Taught by Somi Jun

For readers and writers of all levels.

Many English classes ask us to step away from the poet’s life as well as our own experiences, in order to objectively interpret the text in front of us. In contrast, this workshop asks how poetry becomes a part of our lives as we write and read it, making both our lives and our writing works-in-progress. To that end, we will read poetry as well as accompanying prose by each poet, investigating how that poet lives, reads, writes, and revises.

All students are invited, but not required, to bring writing of any genre to the workshop. In particular, I encourage participants to bring early drafts of ambitious or multipart projects. By exploring poetry as experience, we will discuss generative – rather than prescriptive – modes of revision.

All readings will be provided.

Max: 9 people
$150*

Weekly Themes
Week 1: The Sentence How do you experience time?
Ellen Bryant Voigt, Donika Kelly, Lyn Hejinian, Franny Choi

Week 2: (Mis)translations How do you experience language?
Robin Coste Lewis, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anne Carson, Elena Marcu

Week 3: Persona How do you experience distance?
Kazuo Ishiguro, Robert Hayden, Phillip B. Williams, William Shakespeare

Week 4: Fragmentation How do you experience silence?
Robin Coste Lewis (again), M. NourbeSe Philip, Solmaz Sharif, Emily Dickinson

Week 5: Show-and-tell How do you experience artwork?

Somi Jun was born in Korea and raised in Los Angeles, where they currently reside. They founded March April Studio, which facilitates art, writing, and co-working at sliding scale rates. From Jun’s kitchen table, they co-founded Corners cutoff, a translingual art press which designs, produces, and distributes printed matter in southern California. Jun’s writing has been supported by Tin House and the MFA Programs in Writing at UC Irvine.

*Half the spots in this workshop are market rate, while the remaining half are offered at a significant discount for those facing financial difficulty. Choose the option that is right for you.

Why March April? March April is the season of growth, facilitated by surprising changes in the weather. One day, sunshine. The next, pouring rain. It’s the variation, sudden turns in fate, and good, deep soil that make growth possible.