In this workshop we will explore the physicality of poetry by practicing forms that challenge the presentation of poetry in traditional 2-dimensional print. As a group we’ll have the chance to read and discuss examples from poets such as Douglas Kearney, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Jubie Arriola-Headly. After which we will go through a series of prompts to try our own hand at forms that subvert the page. In spending this time exploring the poem as a physical object we will practice writing tactics that will help us enhance our craft and help to avoid any self-imposed limitations we may subconsciously be harboring when it comes to creating poetry.
About the facilitator:
Kelsey Bryan-Zwick is a multi-modal artist and writer, published across many genres. Their debut collection of poetry, Here Go the Knives (Moon Tide Press), part memoir, part magical realism, part illustration—focuses on their decades surviving with debilitating scoliosis. Kelsey is The Poetry Lab’s Assistant Director, a Los Angeles Poet Society organizer, Chair of Produced Media for the Stonewall Democratic Club, and a staff writer for Cultural Daily. Kelsey is a UC Santa Cruz alum (go banana slugs!) and they’ve been thrice nominated for the Pushcart Prize and twice for the Best of the Net. On the gram @theexquisitepoet.