Form's Not Dead: New and Invented Forms

NOTE: Writers can choose to take one, some, or all four sessions being offered.  See DATES for scheduled forms. See DETAILS for prorated fees.

When I think of  “poetic forms,” I first think of traditional forms such as sonnets, sestinas, ghazals, and many others, especially when I see them used excitingly by contemporary poets. Of course, then I remind myself that all forms are invented—and that formal invention hasn’t stopped. Contemporary poets are still inventing new and exciting forms, and in this four-week online workshop we will explore poems by contemporary poets who have invented new forms.

Why form? I think often a little constraint can be helpful when developing a poem—especially when you sit down feeling you want to write but don’t know how to start! Sometimes using a pre-existing structure can open possibilities or give you a starting place—for example, knowing you have to repeat the same words suddenly gives new awareness of your language.

We will look at these contemporary forms partially as a way to learn and experiment with new forms of constraint, and partially to consider the process of invention. After all, whenever we sit down to write, we are inventing a structure for ourselves—so what better way to investigate that than to try writing in some new and flexible contemporary forms, and to consider how and why someone might create (or already has) a new form altogether?

In each class, we will read and discuss contemporary-form poems by a number of poets, including Terrance Hayes, Jericho Brown, torrin a. greathouse, E. Kristin Anderson, and Tonee Mae Moll, who have invented and used the new forms we will discuss. We will also experiment with writing our own versions of these and other new forms. Participants can expect to spend some of our class time writing in form, as well as about 30 minutes to 1 hour per week outside of class reading the poems for the following week so we can have a good discussion.

Instructor

Griffin Rockwell is a queer poet who often writes about gender, science, pop culture, and unusual connections. Xe is the author of the chapbooks listen— (Interstellar Flight Press), body in motion (perhappened press), and Lexicon of Future Selves (VA Press). Their work has also appeared in AGNI, Okay Donkey, Santa Fe Review, Poet Lore, Whale Road Review, HAD, and elsewhere. They earned their MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and their MLitt at the University of Dundee. Find xer website and socials at https://linktr.ee/griffinrockwell.