Description: On writing her book Other People's Comforts Keep Me Up at Night, poet Morgan Parker said, "Let's see what happens if I made a sestina with the Real Housewives," which is to say: Forms do not have to be formal. They can be mysterious, strange, whimsical, or, as the poet Adrienne Rich once said, the "asbestos gloves" we need to handle the difficult topics of our lives we don't know how to pick up otherwise. In this four-part class, we will use each class to study and discuss four different forms: haiku, sonnet, villanelle, and sestina. We will look at different examples of each form and go over techniques and prompts for writing our own. The class will culminate with a student reading where we celebrate the poems we wrote.Instructor: Meg Thompson is a writer and recovering academic living in Northeast Ohio. Her work has appeared in Best of the Net, McSweeney's Online Tendency, The Sun, and many other now-defunct magazines. She has worked as an English lecturer at the random universities that dot the Midwest, and, more successfully, as a dishwasher. She was a parent-fellow at Martha Vineyard’s Institute of Creative Writing and a finalist for the Key West Literary Seminar Emerging Writing Awards. If you're still on the fence, chew on this: she was voted Most Funny in her sorority. (Two years in a row. Stop asking about it.) And when it comes to prestigious literary prizes, she has applied to them. Find her on Instagram @benignheartmommer.---Details: Big Things Come in Small Stanzas: The Quiet Power of Poetic Forms takes place Thursdays May 2, 9, 16 and 23 from 6:30-8:30pm in-person at Literary Cleveland's offices, 13002 Larchmere Blvd in Cleveland.
Prerequisite: NoneGenre: PoetryLevel: All experience levels welcome.Format: Workshop with generative writing outside of class and feedback during classLocation: This class takes place in-person at Literary Cleveland's offices, 13002 Larchmere Blvd in Cleveland.Size: Limited to 12 participants (including scholarships)Suggested Sequence: Follow this class with an intermediate generative workshop.Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by April 15.Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.
