TRACY K. SMITH
SOMETHING PATTERNED, WILD AND FREE with TRACY K. SMITH
A poem is a conundrum. It is made from language, and yet seeks to describe that which exists beyond or outside of ordinary speech. It begins in pursuit of one idea, image, concept or question, and enacts a “turn” or “transformation” that reveals more than what was initially sought. And the impact of poems—good poems—is to change the reader (and, hopefully, the poet) in ways that resonate well beyond the scope of a single idea or theme. With these ideas in mind, we will spend the first half of each session discussing a brief selection of published poems. The second half will focus on critique of student work. Each participant will have the opportunity to workshop 3 poems in the span of 5 sessions. Upon acceptance to the workshop, poems will be submitted via email by January 1, 2013.
TRACY K. SMITH is the author of four books of poetry, including Wade in the Water (Graywolf Press, 2018), which is shortlisted for the 2018 T. S. Eliot Prize. and one memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction. Life on Mars (Graywolf, 2011) was selected as a New York Times Notable Book for 2011 and won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Duende (2007) won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and an Essence Literary Award. The Body’s Question (2003) was the winner of the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Smith is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers Award in 2004 and a Whiting Award in 2005. She teaches Creative Writing at Princeton University and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She has served as the 52nd Poet Laureate of the United States since. 2017.
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