In this workshop we will explore how poems need not end with an ascendant or descendent gesture to be as haunting and powerful as a poem that affirms the human condition and assures us that we will rise above all of its circumstances. This workshop is based on a series of lectures on inspirational poetry, sometimes called the poetry of agreements; and literary poetry, sometimes referred to as the poetry of dislocation. We will discuss where these types of poetries intersect, but also where they differ in their aims and how we may use various types of closure to free ourselves from received (and often gendered) uninterrogated beliefs around positivity in our efforts to write resonant, impactful work.
Vievee Francis is the author of three books of poetry: Blue-Tail Fly; Horse in the Dark, winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Poetry Prize for a second collection; and Forest Primeval, winner of the Hurston Wright Legacy Award and the 2017 Kingsley-Tufts Poetry Award. Her work has appeared in numerous print and online journals, textbooks, and anthologies, including Poetry, Best American Poetry 2010, 2014, 2017, 2019 and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry. She serves as an associate editor of Callaloo and an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.
View poet's page
