When people think of poetry, they often think of its brevity. They think of sonnets or haiku or poems contained on a single page. The long poem, though, allows the writer to introduce chaos amidst the “order” of a poem. A shorter, more familiar poem requires that a reader bring themselves into the poem – to fill in the inevitable gaps and spaces with their own experiences and interpretations. A long poem, though, demands that the reader accompany the poet. Long poems often muse on a specific experience that is hard to name or contain within a single page–they encourage obsession, repetition, and digression. Rachel Zucker writes in “An Anatomy of the Long Poem,” that “long poems are all love poems.” In this class, we will learn to push against the “just-right” ending of a short poem and sprawl, string along, digress, and engage with the long poem and its “ongoingness.” We’ll spend time reading some long poems (and excerpts from book-length poems) and write long poems of our own, considering how we might embrace the exciting imperfection of the form.