Course Description

In case anyone is interested, here is the course description for my class, "Poetry Writing for Majors", for next spring:

This class assumes that poetry can be an exploration, not just a craft with rules to follow. In our wide-ranging reading and writing, we will explore the lyric poem, the prose poem, poetry as performance, video poetry, Internet poetry, poetry that works for social change, poetry that denounces all social relevance, public poetry, private poetry, poetry for the masses, poetry not meant to be read by anyone. To help us in this investigation will use contemporary books of poetry by young poets, such as Cathy Park Hong’s “Dance Dance Revolution” and “Eric Bauss’s “The To Sound.” But as those two titles suggest we will also explore how poetry can be influenced by or react to artforms and other material traditionally seen as outside of poetry. Most importantly, this class will explore the interests and obsessions of the members of the class. Weekly poems and three major projects will be required.