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Experimental poetry begins with the commitment to invent rather than the urge to express (though expression occurs, inevitably). In this course we’ll begin by writing simple acrostics and then move on to homolinguistic and homophonic translations, between-the-lines poems, inside-the-letters poems, “procedural” poems (where constraint rules the day), conceptual poems, torn poems, found poems, appropriated poems, shuffled and color-wheel and mixed-genre poems and more, all in an attempt to break through normative ego-based composition (while fully acknowledging that we all have egos that are here to stay) and to travel paths we can’t quite find without such experiments.

Participants may find that after this class they will continue to discover new territories with or without experimental rules in place. This course includes both reading (Bernadette Mayer, Jackson Mac Low, Susan Howe, bpNichol, Caroline Bergvall) and writing of poetry, and requires a willing and adventurous spirit and an open mind. Appropriate for writers of all levels of experience.

Call or visit the Poetry Center to register.