Class Description

We’re often inspired to write poetry in a highly emotional state or in response to a powerful event in our lives. Here’s the problem: when we write about those heightened topics, we often tip into cliches, abstraction, and hyperbole that can dampen the impact of the moment we’re trying to capture. In this workshop, we’ll explore writing about love, death, and depression and their common traps, do some in-the-moment revisions together to demonstrate how we can recognize them and revise effectively, and work on some generative writing to come up with new lines, metaphors, and ideas for future emotional poems. Limited to 15 writers. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR Originally from Ontario, Canada, LOREN WALKER has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and chosen as a finalist for the Luminare Poetry Award, the Beulah Rose Poetry Contest, and the Harbor Review Editor’s Prize. Loren has also received fellowships from Looking Glass Rock, StoryStudio, and Lambda Literary. Loren’s poems have appeared in Sierra Nevada Review, Quarter Press, Revolute, Free State Review, and other publications. Loren has published two poetry chapbooks: viscerous by The Offending Adam, and neverheart by Dancing Girl Press, and creates and sells micro-chapbooks on Etsy. As a neurodivergent writer, Loren’s workshops are rooted in inclusivity; open stimming, the need for physical or emotional breaks, chat-only responses, or any other accommodation that may have affected participation in other writing workshops are welcome.