Robert Frost famously said, “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” As poets, we know the thrill of being surprised by the direction a draft takes; we may say something we never expected to say. As readers, surprise is often one source of delight, taking us somewhere we didn’t know we were going. How can you invite surprise into your own work? We’ll read and study some poems that successfully surprise in various ways, and read your own drafts to consider how you might revise for not only greater clarity and power, but also for various kinds of surprise. We may do some brief in-class writing or quick revision, so have at hand a piece you’re not very happy with that you’re ready to perform some outpatient surgery on. You should have two poems ready in advance to be workshopped by our group, due a week before the start of the festival; a third poem, based on an assignment, will be due from everyone for our final meeting. Students should email me two poems-in-progress due one week before the workshop (Monday, Jan 3).
Kim Addonizio is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose. Her most recent poetry collection is Now We’re Getting Somewhere (W.W. Norton). Her memoir-in-essays, Bukowski in a Sundress, was published by Penguin. She has received NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships, Pushcart Prizes in both poetry and the essay, and her poetry has been widely translated and anthologized. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Poetry, The Sun, the Times Literary Supplement (UK), and numerous literary journals. Tell Me was a National Book Award Finalist in poetry. She performs and teaches internationally at colleges, universities, festivals and conferences, and currently lives in Oakland, CA, where she teaches private workshops. Visit her at https://www.kimaddonizio.com
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