This workshop is for those of us with a broken second heart that continually needs to be excised onto the page. It is designed for those poets, like me, who write the same poem again and again (aka "flood subjects), and are looking for ways to transform that trauma (or “mythic wound” as Tony Hoagland calls it) and create fresh, exciting work.

In this four-week online workshop, we'll practice poetic forms that make significant use of repetition: the villanelle, the ghazal, the pantoum, and the sestina. Beginning with the historical context for each form and a survey of modern and contemporary examples, we'll write, share, and discuss our own attempts at satisfying these demanding patterns.

Just what makes a poem musical? How do we best celebrate music in our poetic expression? Through this course, we'll study the works of early bards, as well as Shakespeare and Tagore, Hopkins and Whitman, along with traditional songs that stand the test of time on the printed page. We'll also explore plenty of contemporary poets as well: Yusef Komonyakaa, Camille Dungy, Rita Dove, Tyehimba Jess, Martin Espada, and Joy Harjo, among others.