Whether we’ve been writing for weeks or months or years, it’s a good idea, I think, to check in with ourselves from time to time—to (re)view the poems we’ve been writing through a different lens and to (en)vision new ways of (possibly) making poems. If we want to mix metaphors, we might think of it as adding new tools to our creative toolboxes or as experimenting with old reliable tools in new and different ways. In this two-week workshop, we will do a bit of both.
Week One we’ll concentrate on generating poems—litanies, portraits, personas, ekphrastics, (and more, depending on time)
Week Two we will focus on revising some of the poems written the previous week (with in-class workshop/discussion) and then try a radical revision exercise that might provide insight into our good (and not so good) writing habits.
Grace Bauer’s most recent collection is Unholy Heart: New and Selected Poems (University of Nebraska Press, 2021). Previous books include MEAN/TIME, The Women At the Well, Nowhere All At Once, Retreats & Recognitions, and Beholding Eye, as well as several chapbooks. She also co-edited the anthology Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse. Her poems, essays, and stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, and have been awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Society of Midland Authors’ Book of the Year Award, The Idaho Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Nebraska Arts Council, The Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and others. She has also received numerous awards for her teaching. Bauer is the Aaron Douglas Professor Emerita at the University of Nebraska.
Larksong Writers on Grace Bauer's previous classes at Larksong:
“It was a great workshop experience for me, in all aspects. The content was appropriate for the time we had and it was highly educational. I felt great about what I got out of the few hours of this workshop. Thank you.”
“Excellent prompts! Liked having a little time to work with the prompts during the class time. Feedback from the instructor specific and helpful.”
“I really enjoyed the class writing and prompts Grace gave us. I also enjoyed reading and hearing everyone’s finished poems.”
“For three Saturday mornings in February, I became a poet-in-training led by writing coach Grace Bauer. I looked forward to the process of transforming an impression, a memory, or an idea, into a jungle of words expressing those thoughts in an attempt to experience the moment in a totally different way. A fun challenge!”
“A great experience. It opened my eyes to new possibilities in poetry writing.”
“Another excellent offering from Larksong! The instructor was an accomplished teacher. I came away with excellent prompts for future application and helpful feedback.”
“The Larksong workshop was a great gift in the middle of winter and the middle of a pandemic. Even though the participants were mostly from Nebraska, they welcomed this west coast Canadian with open arms. Goes to prove that poetry is a universal language and brings everyone together. I am excited to see Larksong grow and become a destination for writers in the future.”