In a recent interview, to answer the question “how can we be joyful in a moment like this?” — poet Ross Gay said “It is joy by which the labor that will make the life that I want, possible. It is not at all puzzling to me that joy is possible in the midst of difficulty. …There’s some kind of tenderness that might be possible — not always gonna happen, because I might just get scared and do something else.…

The Poetry Workshop continues with returning members and new members with poetry writing experience. Members of the group will actively write and revise original poems, focusing on elements of craft and analyzing select poems by our best poets that effectively model those elements. All group members will have the opportunity to submit material for the workshop. Your instructor will make every effort to tailor the submission schedule to your individual goals. 

Whether you’re brand new to poetry or just need a refresher on the craft of writing poems, this class will focus on the fundamentals of what makes a great poem. With a strong emphasis on how to read a poem as a writer, this class mixes both traditional and formal poetry with modern contemporary examples and covers the basics of form and language. This class will help you build your toolbox of literary devices to begin crafting poems on your…

Returning students and new members with poetry writing experience will actively write and revise original poems, focusing on elements of craft and analyzing select poems by our best poets that effectively model those elements. All group members will have the opportunity to submit material for the workshop. Your instructor will make every effort to tailor the submission schedule to your individual goals. 

The Advanced Poetry Workshop is open to students who have completed previous workshop-level classes at The Muse or those who have extensive workshop or graduate-level experience. This class focuses on writing, criticism, and the exploration of contemporary poetic discourse. Students at this level are writing poetry with an increased focus on creating an individual voice and emotional richness. Students will be expected to submit regularly and provide thoughtful feedback to classmates. 

Our lives and our sense of life are made up of what we remember of lived experience. Though we may not be conscious of the effort, we spend our lives constructing a library of recollections that chronicle what we’ve learned to love, fear, crave, and despise. We imagine the future—for better and for worse—in terms of how we feel about what we remember. In this workshop, we will use memory as fuel for writing. This will allow us to engage…

Often you feel the sensation it’s not only completely natural to write lines in poems as if you’re seated next to a fun passenger through a long Amtrak tunnel ride (like weeks) and these seats are so comfy and roomy the both of you are moving mouths, actually speaking to one another. Most of your tangents aren’t even sliding into politics, and if the conversation tilts a little one-sided, it balances fast, sun is going down, wow it’s really getting…