The Poem’s Door: Finding the Portal to Inspiration

Writer’s block is often another way of saying that we don’t know how to enter a poem. This talk will explore some tools for close, intentional reading, as a way to build that door into the poem. Or a window. Or a portal to the other poem, the one it didn’t occur to us to write. Guided by acclaimed writer Safia Elhillo, we’ll close read beautiful works, mine them for literary devices, practice a few prompts, and learn to find the writing prompt in everything. Safia hopes that through this class you’ll stop trying to hunt down inspiration and stop thinking of it as something elusive to be caught. Instead, you’ll learn to host inspiration and self-generate the conditions that create it.

This event has past. Registered students may still access the Replay.