Participants in this workshop will focus on the transpersonal self as speaker in the poem, a self that deals with states of consciousness beyond the limits of personal identity. Using Walt Whitman’s eleventh canto, Elizabeth Bishop’s “In the Waiting Room,” Fernando Pessoa’s “The Herdsman,” and Frank Bidart’s “Ellen West,” we will explore a variety of poetic forms as we engage in linear experimentation, fictive intricacy, and lyrical economy. In-class writing exercises will focus on tapping the unconscious for poetic gold.
Chard deNiord is the author of seven books of poetry, In My Unknowing (University of Pittsburgh Press 2020), Interstate (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), The Double Truth (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011), Speaking In Turn (a collaboration withTony Sanders) Night Mowing (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005), Sharp Golden Thorn (Marsh Hawk Press, 2002) and Asleep In The Fire (University of Alabama Press, 1990). He is also the author of two books of interviews with eminent American poets: Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs, Conversations and Reflections on 20th Century Poetry (Marick Press, 2011) and I Would Lie To You If I Could (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018). deNiord is a Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Providence College. From 2015 to 2019 he served as poet laureate of Vermont. He lives in Westminster West, Vermont with his wife, Liz.
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