syllabus for creative writing

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Prof. Jessica Penner | OL05 | Fall 2020

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I have separated the one big document everyone gets at the beginning of the semester into two: the syllabus and the schedule .

This is the syllabus , which shares a lot of detail about the class. Questions about how the class is run, how you will be graded, etc., can be found here. The other document is the schedule , which shares assignments and due dates. Questions about what we will be doing each week can be found there.

Table of Contents

How This Class Operates

Aspects of a Writing Class

Required Material

Learning Outcomes

• Breakdown of the Final Grade & Grading Scale

Communication

Participation in an Online Course

Office Hours

Late Writing Assignment Policy

Extra Credit

• A Few “Oddities”
• NYCCT Policy on Academic Integrity

Student Accessibility

A Note on Course Workload

I. Nuts & Bolts

Some of you may have taken online courses before, for others, this may be a new experience. Like a face-to-face class, every teacher runs their class differently. Read on for a guide on how this class will be run:

• This is an asynchronous course, which means there is no specific time that this class will meet.
• You’ll notice I have two emails listed. The first address is my general NYCCT email. The second is just for your class. Please use the second email! Because all my classes are online, I get a lot of email every day, so your message can quickly get lost. If you use the second email, my response time will be much quicker!
• All activities/information will take place on OpenLab .
• Each Friday , I will post an Announcement (located under Activities ) message in our OpenLab website. It will summarize what we’ll be working on for the following week.
• I will also publish a weekly Assignment post (also located under Activities ) each Friday , which will provide a detailed guide on what is due throughout the following week, titled “Week 1,” “Week 2,” etc. There will usually be two sections: Read and Write , with links to the week’s reading assignments and instructions on what you need to write in response to the assignment.
• There are deadlines noted in the schedule (the other document) throughout each week, marked in red . Most of the deadlines are on Mondays and Wednesdays , with a few exceptions. Some assignment deadlines are small (posts on the Student Work section), some are large (major writing assignments). All of them count toward your final grade!
• Be advised that if you do not log onto OpenLab and participate in the writing assignments, this will be noted by me. If you have not shown participation in this class within two weeks of the start of the semester, I will notify the administration and you will be dropped from the class. (Please note: If you wait until right before the end of the two weeks, you’ll discover that you’ve lost participation points!)
• The responsibility to keep up with assignments rests on you . All the assignments in this class have specific due dates, which means once a date has passed, you cannot turn in the work and receive the points. I do not accept late work. If you have questions about assignments, please contact me and we can either work things out over Zoom or an email conversation—but this works better when you ask right away rather than wait until right before a due date arrives!

As you’ve probably guessed from ENG1101 or ENG1121, a writing class isn’t like a mathematics or computer programming class. Here’s some details about what this class will be like. Throughout this semester, we will:

Discuss – Suzan-Lori Parks once told The New Yorker : “I love my lecture tours. I get up onstage. I have my stack of books and a glass of water and a microphone. No podium, no distance between me and the audience, and I just talk to people and get all excited and tell a lot of jokes, and sing some songs, and read from my work and remind people how powerful they are and how beautiful they are.”

Although this class is asynchronous, I may at times post short video discussions or link you to PowerPoints. I refer to my lectures as discussions, because that’s how I look at them. I’ll passionately “talk” at length at times, especially when I’m introducing a topic, but I’ll also prod you for your reactions to the information via Discussion Boards, because each of you have a point of view that is unique and needs to be heard.

Read/Analyze – William Faulkner once wrote: “Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write.”

You will be asked to read material, analyze the work, and think about how you can use the example to benefit your own writing. I recommend you read the assignment at least twice—once for basic comprehension , the second time for details . If English is not your first language, you may need to read the assignment three or four times.

Write/Revise – Octavia Butler once wrote: “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”

You will use what we have read as a jumping-off point for your writing. On a specific date, we will have a “peer review” (see below). After the peer review, you will be given time to revise, edit, and type a second draft. I will evaluate this draft. Be sure to keep the second draft once it’s evaluated! Don’t just delete it, because you’ll have an opportunity to revise that draft for your Writing Portfolio at the end of the semester!

Peer Review – Isaac Bashevis Singer once wrote: “The waste basket is the writer’s best friend.” I add: “The peer reviewer is the writer’s next best friend.”

The class will be divided into a Cohort of four peers each. They will be given another student’s work and have time to read, fill out a peer reviewer’s worksheet, and discuss the work over email or text. You may be tempted to be “nice” and write nothing but glowing reviews during this process—please ignore this temptation. This is a time for you to work together for your common goal for this class: to become better writers.

Course Overview

All writing is creative, including the writing you do for school, internet posts to social media, and text/email messages. Where there was a blank page–virtual or otherwise–and you fill it with your words, you have, in fact, drawn on your intellectual resources to create patterns of meaning with those words.

“Creative writing,” however, generally refers to poetry, fiction, drama, and some forms of non-fiction–memoirs and narratives that use the techniques of story-telling.

We will focus on understanding how form and meaning work together and on understanding the types and complexities of each genre–notably, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and cross-genres–so each student can begin to develop their unique, individual voice .

We will be writing a lot—every day, in fact. You will be keeping a writing journal the entire semester to log your creative material and reflect on the process itself. I will be checking these journals occasionally throughout the semester—not to evaluate, but to ensure you are keeping up with assignments and know a little bit about what you are thinking as a writer.

We will be reading [1] a lot, immersing ourselves in the world of words–and analyzing forms of written expression, both student-produced and published work. Together, we will read, discuss and write memoir essays, short stories or flash fiction, and, time permitting, poetry and very short dramas (dialogues). In addition, we will give attention to the process of writing and the writing life and learn how to become adept critics by providing sensitive, useful feedback on each other’s work.

• First, make sure your email is one you check on a daily basis, because all announcements and email related to this class will go to the  email address you have set in Blackboard . See  this video  for how to check/change your email address in Blackboard. Please be sure to check that email inbox frequently during the semester.
• Make sure you have access to OpenLab .
• Log in to your OpenLab account and follow  these instructions  to join this course . If you’re new to OpenLab, follow  these instructions to create an account  and then join the course .
• You’ll be posting assignments on OpenLab, so you need to have member status.
• We may be using Google Docs for some assignments. Here’s where you can get started if you’ve never used Google Docs before.
• Have a notebook and a folder reserved specifically for this class, pens/pencils, and a laptop or tablet that has access to the Internet (since all reading material and other documents will be shared online) .

Students will be able to:

• employ characterization, specifically the representation of characters through their actions, words, descriptions of them, and the responses of others to them;
• create stories and poems with convincing points of view, specifically as it functions through the narrators of stories, speakers of poems, and characters of plays, and their perspectives on the subject matter of the works in which they exist;
• create plots, specifically the selection and ordering of events as situations or scenes, to achieve suspense through exposition and action;
• employ style, specifically its identifiable components: patterned sentence structure, word-order, manipulation of the qualitative and quantitative features of sound, and the choice of appropriate diction and tone;
• utilize structure, as a planned framework for writing, selecting from several options to achieve most effective arrangement of parts, and the desired effect and impact of the work;
• understand and demonstrate the use of symbolism and allusion in different cultural contexts;
• conduct online, archival and primary research, to mine raw material for creative works.

Breakdown of Final Grade & Grading Scale

20% Participation

Completion of weekly homework assignments that will include participation in the Discussion Board and other reading/writing activities by assigned due dates will earn these points. There will be 20 points possible for each week.

10% Critical Responses

Guidelines for critical responses to your peers’ work will be explained before our first major writing assignment. Learning to assess your own and others’ work and to offer constructive, specific feedback is a key part of our course. There will be 10 points possible for each Critical Response.

20% Journal

You will be keeping an online writing journal the entire semester to log your creative material and reflect on the process itself. I will be reading these entries—not to evaluate—but to ensure you are keeping up with assignments and know a little bit about what you are thinking as a writer. There will be 20 points possible for each Journal.

20% Writing

Throughout the semester, we will be writing memoir essays, short stories, poetry, and dialogues. You must complete each project on the due dates in order to receive points. There will be 100 points possible for each assignment.

30% Writing Portfolio

This will be a significant revision of three major writing projects and a final reflection essay highlighting how you’ve evolved as a writer. There will be 400 points possible for the Portfolio.

Grading Scale

A- 90-92.9%

B+ 87-89.9%

B- 80-82.9%

C+ 77-79.9%

F 59.9% and below

II. Details

I will be communicating via your City Tech email . Please check your City Tech email at least once a day. I check mine at least twice a day during the week. If you send me an email during the week, you can expect a response within 24 hours. If you write me on the weekend, I will respond within 48 hours.

Just because you’re logging on to OpenLab doesn’t mean you are “participating.” Just logging on every once in a while doesn’t guarantee you will pass this class or get the grade you desire. In order to pass or get the highest grade possible, you need to do the following:

Complete homework before the due date. As I mentioned above, I do not accept late work. On a positive note, homework is graded upon completion. That means if you’ve obviously shown effort (answered the question, written the paragraph, etc.) you’ll get the credit.

How does a person show effort? For example, if I ask students to answer an open-ended question in a paragraph (How do you feel about your cultural identity? Why do people love or hate the Kardashians?), and one student writes a single sentence, they have not shown effort, while another student writes five to eight sentences, they have shown effort.

It’s been my experience (and I’ve been teaching for fifteen years) that those who do the homework fare better on the larger writing assignments than those who didn’t. If I’ve assigned something, I think it’s going to help you become a better writer, it’s not just “busywork.”

Finally, when we have first drafts due for Peer Review for your Cohort, be ready to present whatever you have on that date. Even if it’s incomplete, share what you have. If you don’t share what you have, your peer reviewers won’t be able to give you feedback on what’s good about your writing and what needs work before I evaluate it (this is invaluable information).

Even though this is an online class and we won’t be physically together, it’s important to behave in a professional manner. As you’ve undoubtedly seen on social media, things can very quickly veer from joking to antagonistic if participants aren’t careful, or perhaps a way someone words a post may offend a reader (when there wasn’t an intent to offend). So, when you’re responding to another student’s post on the Discussion Board, a peer’s essay, or in email conversations, please remember the following:

Respect – Students are required to show respect to the professor and other students at all times. This includes carefully reading content the professor assigns or a post made by another student, asking questions about the topic at hand, and refraining from name-calling or using inappropriate language (ableist, racial, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ slurs, to name a few).

Participation – Students are required to participate actively in the class. This means doing all the homework assignments, connecting with your peers and instructor in a timely manner, and being prepared for each week’s assignments.

Many of you are taking this course to fulfill a Pathways requirement. However, once you commit to the course , you will be considered as a writer who cares about your work . Therefore, all of you are writers in this class and your work will be given the respect your efforts deserve

My office hours will be 1 to 2 PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’ll be available through Zoom and will send an invitation through email each week. Try to join my meeting at the start of the hour, not at the end—since I may be talking to other students or have another appointment after the hour is up. If those times don’t work with your schedule, we can schedule a different time. This means you’ll have to schedule an appointment in advance via email . In order to ensure we can meet, it’s important you contact me at least 24 hours in advance. For example, if you want to meet at 11 AM on Wednesday, be sure to email me on Tuesday morning; do NOT wait until 10:30 AM on Wednesday. I may have an appointment with another student or other responsibilities scheduled during that time. Please take advantage of this. It’s a time for me to help you with reading and/or writing issues or discuss any concerns you have. I really enjoy talking with students!

ALL writing assignments not received by the due date listed on the syllabus will be recorded as an F. I do not accept ANY assignments after the due date (this includes the Writing Portfolio at the end of the semester) .

I do not offer extra credit. If you complete the assigned readings, and turn in ALL writing assignments that have been thoughtfully written and proofread, you will pass this class.

A Few “Oddities” (and Other Notes)

A Cohort is a fancy word for a small group that works toward a common goal. In this class, you’ll be divided into Cohorts for to critique writing assignments. You will be with your Cohort all semester .

Assignments and Readings

Read with gusto and discernment. Learning to read well will enhance your ability to write well. Complete all assignments and write as much as you can. Of necessity, there will be overlap between drafts, with a new sketch or draft begun and another final draft due.

Writing Dos and Don’ts

Hate speech (racist, ableist, misogynist, anti-LGBT+, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, etc.) won’t be tolerated. Curse words are allowed, but only when there is a true need for the word (perhaps a character would use the f-word, etc.). Don’t get too stressed about grammar, but be sure your sentences are clear to the reader. More on this below…

Language Awareness and Precision

Not all of you self-identify as writers. Some of you do. All of you, though, come to this course with an interest in developing your writing and communication skills. A key goal is for students to pay attention to word choice and phrasing–and to work on exploring ways to communicate complex ideas, observations, and feelings to yourself and to others. Take risks in your thinking and writing. Use our readings as guides to genres and use of figurative language.

Peer and Self-review

Methods for responding to your own and others’ work will be explained later. Always try to understand what the author is trying to say. Suggest, rather than command, focusing on ways to bring out and shape the author’s meaning. All writers are sensitive to criticism. NEVER be rude or dismissive. All writers need to learn to accept constructive criticism. Therefore, provide honest, but gentle feedback, within the guidelines I provide.

As noted in the final grade breakdown, you will be keeping a journal on the class website. I have specific “journal assignments” that are meant to prompt you either to write creatively or reflect on the writing process. If you’re uninspired or unable to follow the prompt, go to the site: https://www.writersdigest.com/prompts or check the web for other writing prompts—just note on your post where you found your alternative prompt (make a hyperlink or write the URL).

Some of our assignments will have specialized formatting, but most typed work should be double-spaced, in 12-point, Times New Roman font, with 1” margins. The first page header (this is on the first page, NOT all pages) should look like this:

Your First and Last Name

Word Count: XXX

Page numbering: Last name and page number in upper right corner on all pages.

III. College Policies & Student Accessibility

New York City College of Technology Policy on Academic Integrity

Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the college recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades , suspension , and expulsion . For further information about plagiarism, cheating and academic integrity see page 57 of the City Tech catalog .

You will earn a zero on a plagiarized assignment in my class. You will NOT be able to “make up” the assignment.

City Tech is committed to supporting the educational goals of enrolled students with disabilities in the areas of enrollment, academic advisement, tutoring, assistive technologies and testing accommodations. If you have or think you may have a disability, you may be eligible for reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments as provided under applicable federal, state and city laws. You may also request services for temporary conditions or medical issues under certain circumstances. If you have questions about your eligibility or would like to seek accommodation services or academic adjustments, please contact the Center for Student Accessibility at 718-260-5143.

Per CUNY guidelines, please calculate two hours of work per credit hour per week, exclusive of class time. This means that for a 3-credit course, you will need to budget 6 hours each week for independent study/class preparation.  Taking into consideration other professional, educational, and personal obligations, please make sure that you have the time to do the work for this course and successfully complete it.

• There are reading assignments that cover abusive relationships and death. If these topics are triggers for you, talk to me privately ; we can discuss alternative readings or I can provide a summary that will let you know if these readings will be an issue. You must approach me before the reading is due. ↑

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Introduction to Creative Writing

To write, one must read. To write well, one must read well. Which means: to read widely, to read with enthusiasm, to read for pleasure, to read with an eye for another’s craft. – Joyce Carol Oates The writer studies literature, not the world. He lives in the world; he cannot miss it. – Annie Dillard Here, I walk into class thinking, Really I have nothing to say to these people, the proper study of writing is reading, is well-managed awe, desire to make a thing, stamina for finishing, adoration of  language, and so on… — Lia Purpura

Week 1            Creating a Writing Practice / Researching Your Lives, Finding Subjects  /  What is Creative Nonfiction? 

• Jo Ann Beard: In the Current (handout)
• Joan Didion:  Why I Write
• Stephen Elliot:  Where I Slept
• [ Optional:  Virginia Woolf:  Moments of Being  ; Ann Lamott:  Shitty First Drafts  ; Donna Steiner:  Exit ; T Clutch Fleischmann:  House With Door ]
• Read Joan Didion’s essay, “Why I Write” and write a letter addressed to me in which you describe your relationship to writing. Here are some questions to guide you: What has been your experience as a writer? How have you come to writing? What writing experiences have shaped you, or what experiences in your life have influenced your writing (or your call to write)? What is important to you about writing? Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “writer,” address the role of writing in your life to date. 1 page, single-spaced, typed (please email to me by Monday, 1/29)
• Bring 1 object & 1 photograph to class
• Bring a blank notebook to class, exclusively for this class. Within it, list 5 writing goals for the semester.

  __________________________________

Week 2            NONFICTION   —   Place, Home, & Family   /   Writing Landscape

• Eliot Sloan:  The Green Room
• Gabrielle Hamilton:  The Lamb Roast
• Jo Ann Beard:  Cousins
• Annie Dillard:  Total Eclipse
• Rebecca Solnit:  The Blue of Distance
• [ Optional: T Clutch Fleischmann:  excerpt   Time is the Thing a Body Moves Through ]
• Reading Response
• Write a letter to your childhood self.
• Travelogue: Write a flash essay about a moment of travel, assembling a collage of the experience with as much sensory detail as possible.

__________________________________

Week 3            NONFICTION —  Writing Culture (Food/Art/Politics)

• David Wong Louie:  Eat, Memory
• Jo-Ann Beard:  The Fourth State of Matter
• Kiese Laymon: How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America 
• Write a flash essay on 1 topic of interest (art, food, politics, etc.) or a review (of artwork, film, meal, etc.)
• *ESSAY—Produce 1 essay that you will continue to revise during this unit. It must be a piece you care about and will remain invested in. It can be flash or long, memoir or journalistic, a meditation on a subject of interest, a story from memory — you have total freedom. You may revise writing exercises into longer pieces, or create something new. Use readings as models.

Week 4            NONFICTION   —   Experimental Prose

• Jen Boully: The Body  excerpt
• Hanif Abdurraquib:  They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us  excerpt
• Anne Carson:  Short Talks
• [ Optional:  Carmen Machado:  In the Dream House excerpt  ; Ross Gay:   Joy Is Such a Human Madness  ; Maggie Nelson:  Bluets  excerpt  ; Ira Sukrungruang, Summer Days, 1983 ; Jenny Price:  13 Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A.  ; Donna Steiner:  Elements of the Wind  ; Lia Purpura:  Being of Two Minds ]
• Write your own series of “short talks” (à la Anne Carson)
• Take a piece of prose you’ve written this unit and scramble its style/structure into an alternative new form
• Reading Response—CANCELLED

WORKSHOPS & Peer Review Letter  

Week 5            NONFICTION

• podcast “Kiese Laymon on Revision as Love, and Love as Revision”
• Write down the most favorite line that  you  have written so far and bring to class
• 2-in-1 Exercise: Take 2 specific, disparate scenes from anything you’ve written this unit and link them within a single cohesive storyline.
• [ Optional:   Revision Exercises ]

Nonfiction Portfolio Due

Week 6            FICTION   —   the Real vs. the Fantastical / Microfictions

• Microfictions: Gordon Jackson:  Billy’s Girl ; Ron Carlson:  Reading the Paper ; David Ordan:  Any Minute Mom Should Come Blasting Through the Door ; Sandra Cisneros:  Bread ; Carmen Maria Machado:  Mary When You Follow Her ; George Saunders:  Sticks ; Aimee Bender:  The Rememberer ; Dino Buzzati: The Falling Girl ]
• Judy Budnitz:  Dog Days
• Story Openings (handout in class)
• [ Optional:  Aimee Bender:  On the Making of Orchards ; Lucy Corin:  Miracles ; Deb Olin Unferth:  Likeable ; Haruki Murakami: The Second Bakery Attack ]
• Conversion Exercises: 1) Take any brief clip you wrote for the NF unit and make it as fantastical as possible to convert it into a fictional story.; 2) Write a brief scene from memory (one already written in the NF unit or totally new) narrated in 3rd person POV

Week 7               FICTION   —   Characters / Voice / POV / Dialogue

• Flannery O’Connor:  Good Country People
• Toni Morrison:  Recitatif
• Kate Braverman:  Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta
• Amy Hempel:  In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried
• Raymond Carver:  What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
• [ Optional:  Jamaica Kincaid:  Girl ; James Joyce:  Eveline ; Michael Ondaatje:  7 or 8 Things I Know About Her (A Stolen Biography)  ; Ann Beattie:  The Burning House ]
• Interview : Write a list of 100 short fragments about 1 character you are working on in your story (or could imagine inventing); the sentences don’t need to connect or follow in a logical way; the idea is for you to outrun your own ideas of this character; don’t be monotonous; ask everything you can of this character, everything you must know…not just physical attributes, but also what they typically eat for breakfast, what they dream about, what they keep in their pockets or under their bed, who they love or have loved, the rituals, habits, and nuances of their personality and lifestyle, the events that have shaped their lives so far, the futures they imagine, etc. Remember, these 100 characteristics will not all make it into your story, but you as the author need to know what they are in order to write the character as realistically and consistently as possible.
• * STORY —Produce 1 story that you will continue to revise during this unit. It must be a piece you care about and will remain invested in. It can be of any style or form—you have total freedom. You may revise writing exercises into longer pieces, or create something new. Use readings as models. BRING HARDCOPIES
• [Optional : Dialogue Exercise : Write a dialogue in which each of the two characters has a secret. Do not reveal the secret but make the reader intuit it.; Accident Exercise : Write the accounts of an accident from the perspectives of 5 people who are witness to it, all 1st POV. Use as many varied characters as possible.  OR 1 Event 5 Ways : Take a simple event and describe it using the same characters and elements of setting in 5 radically different ways (change style, tone, sentence structure, voice, psychic distance, POV, form, etc.). ]

Week 8            FICTION   —   Experimental Forms

• Lydia Davis:  Five Stories
• Donald Barthelme:  The School  /  Rebecca
• Gabrielle Bell: excerpt Cecil and Jordan in New York (email)
• Charles Yu:  Fable
• Margaret Atwood:  Happy Endings
• Susan Minot:  Lust
• T Kira Mahealani Madden:  Judy in Her Good Robe
• Daniel Orozco:  Orientation
• Write a 1-sentence story (in. 250 words). Revisit Machado. (You may convert something you’ve written for an exercise in this unit into a 1-sentence story, if it makes sense for that story.)
• [ Optional : 1) Write a 10-minute story told backwards from the end to the beginning; 2) Write a brief passage on some stock subject (a journey, landscape, sexual encounter) in the rhythm of a long novel, then in the rhythm of a short story.]

Week 9            SPRING BREAK

Week 10          FICTION

• [ Optional:  Revision Exercises ]
• Following Hemingway’s 6-word story (which we’ll review in class), convert the major story you wrote for this unit into a 6-word story. Then explain why you need all those pages to tell your story.

Fiction Portfolio Due Thursday, April 4th by 8pm

Week 11          POETRY — Prose Poems / Narrative Poems / Lyric Poems

• Ezra Pound:  In a Station of the Metro
• Prose Poems—Robert Hass:  A Story about the Body  ; Nicole Sealey:  Even the Gods  ; Cameron Awkward-Rich:  Meditations in an Emergency  ; Shira Erlichman:  Ode to Lithium #600  ; Oliver Baez Bendorf:  Outing, Iowa  ; Harryette Mullen:  Black Nikes  ; Hala Alyan:  Oklahoma  ; Richard Jackson:  Ten Things I Need to Know
• Narrative Poems—Elizabeth Bishop:  The Fish
• Lyric Poems— open reading, find alternate links if these don’t open —Elizabeth Bishop:  Casabianca ; Natalie Diaz:  My Brother My Wound ; Max Ritvo:  Poem to My Litter ; Ocean Vuong:  Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds /  Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong ; Ada Limon:  How to Triumph Like a Girl ; Donika Kelly:  Fourth Grade Autobiography ; Mark Doty:  Charlie Howard’s Descent ;  A Display of Mackerel ; James Wright:  A Blessing  ;  Lying in a Hammock ; Franz Wright:  On Earth  ;  Promise ; Louise Gluck:  The Wild Iris ; Terrance Hayes:  The Blue Terrance ; Alex Dimitrov:  The Years  /  Together and by Ourselves  /  Dark Matter  /  My Secret  /  Darling  /  Sunset on 14th Street  /  Poem Written in a Cab ; Jenny George:  Rehearsal  / Death of a Child  /  Reprieve ; Robin Coste Lewis:  Summer ; Oliver Baez Bendorf:  Both/Both ; Taneum Bambrick:  Closeness ; Gabrielle Calvocoressi:  Hammond B3 Organ Cistern  /  Miss you. Would like to take a walk with you ; Carl Phillips:  Hymn  /  The Truth ; Hieu Minh Nguyen:  Staying Quiet ; Hanif Abdurraquib:  How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This ; Jericho Brown:  Bullet Points ; Keetje Kuipers:  Spa Days ; Selfishness ; Diane Seuss: I Could Do It. I Could Walk Into the Sea ; Song in My Heart ; F. Scott ; Richard Siken:  Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out  /  Detail of the Woods ; Ross Gay:  Love, I’m Done With You ; Robert Hass:  Meditation at Lagunitas ; Kaveh Akbar:  What Use Is Knowing Anything If No One Is Around ; Tracy K. Smith:  Wade in the Water ; Richie Hoffman:  Bright Walls ; Li-Young Lee:  The Cleaving ; Sharon Olds:  San Francisco ; Sarah Ghazal Ali: Matrilineage [umbilicus]
• [ Optional: On Poetry—Robert Frost:  The Figure a Poem Makes ; Audre Lorde:  Poetry is Not a Luxury ; AR Ammons:  A Poem is a Walk ]
• Take 1 prose piece you’ve written and recast it with line-breaks two ways — as a 1) narrative poem (a poem that tells a story) AND 2) lyric poem (a poem that uses language to evoke). You are not required to adhere to any metrical or formal elements or structures — both poems should be free verse.
• Found Poem— Between-the-Lines Poem: Choose your favorite poem from the readings. Type out the poem, leaving triple-space between lines. Then, between the lines, fill in a new line of your own which is sparked by the original line. Eliminate all original poem lines at the end. The poem that remains is your own. Tinker with it and make it cohere.

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Week 12          POETRY —  Forms

• Sonnet —Edna St. Vincent Millay:  Sonnet XLIII ; Gwendolyn Brooks:  the rites for Cousin Vit ; Kim Addonizio:  First Poem For You (compare Shakespeare  sonnet 55 ); Claude McKay:  America ; Robert Hayden:  Those Winter Sundays ; Adrienne Rich:  excerpt  from Twenty-One Love Poems; Marilyn Hacker: Untitled ; Terrance Hayes: sel.  American Sonnet For My Past & Future Assassin  ( I lock you  /  Probably twilight  /  Inside me ) ; Danez Smith:  The 17 Year-Old & the Gay Bar  /  Crown  ; Dianne Seuss  selected
• Sestina —Elizabeth Bishop:  Sestina ; Kim Addonizio:  Sestina of the Alcoholic Daughter
• Villanelle —Elizabeth Bishop:  One Art ; Theodore Roethke:  The Waking
• Pantoum —Randall Mann:  Pantoum ; Laure-Anne Bosselaar:  Stillbirth ; Peter Meinke:  Atomic Pantoum
• Ghazal —Patricia Smith:  Hip-Hop Ghazal ; Jericho Brown:  Hustle
• Ode —Pablo Neruda:  Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market
• Elegy —Frank O’Hara:  The Day Lady Died ; Jericho Brown:  Another Elegy ; Danez Smith:  not an elegy for Mike Brown ; CJ Evans:  Elegy in Limestone ; Chen Chen:  Elegy to Be Exhaled at Dusk
• Epistle —Keetje Kiupers:  Spring Letter from the South ; Elana Bell:  Letter to Jerusalem ; Kim Addonizio:  Dear Reader ; Donika Kelly:  Dear — ; Danez Smith:  dear white america
• List —Richard Jackson:  Things I Forgot to Put on My Reminder List ; Morgan Parker:  If You Are Over Staying Woke ; Oliver Baez Bendorf:  River I Dream About
• Ekphrastic —Larry Levis:  Ocean Park #17, 1968: Homage to Diebenkorn ; Peter Balakian:  Warhol / Madison Ave / 9-11
• Haiku —Sonia Sanchez:  Haiku [i count the morning]
• Other —Maggie Millner:  excerpt  from  Couplets: A Love Story
• Form Poem: Write 1 form poem of your choice. Research the guidelines of that form if you aren’t familiar with it, and read other poems in that form.
• Write a series of 3-5 HAIKUS around a single theme.
• * POEM  (hardcopy)—Produce 1 poem that you will continue to revise during this unit. It must be a piece you care about and will remain invested in. It can be any style or form—you have total freedom. You may revise writing exercises, or create something new. Use readings as models.
• [ Optional: 1) Write an ode or list poem or persona poem or epistle or ekphrastic poem; 2) Conversion Poem: Transform your form poem into free verse. This may mean minimally or drastically changing the poem.]

Week 13          POETRY —  Experimental Lyrics & Soundscapes

• “A Poem That’s Like a Perfect Date” (NYT): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/11/books/frank-ohara-having-a-coke-poem.html
• Layli Long Soldier:  excerpts from  Whereas;  Danez Smith:  a note on the body  /  alternate names for black boys ; Monica Youn:  Drawing for Absolute Beginners ; Rae Armantrout:  Bees ; Ocean Vuong:  On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous ; Keith S. Wilson:  Batter Bread, Mulatto Style (1935)  / l ine dance for an american textbook  /  reportage on a theory  /  Who Is There To Eulogize The Tree ; Hanif Abdurraquib:  The Ghost of Marvin Gaye ; Harryette Mullen:  [up from slobbery]  /  [it’s rank it cranks you up] ; Sarah Sloat:  excerpts or this or this or this ; Sarah Ghazal Ali: Matrilineage [umbilicus]
• Reading Response — CANCELLED
• Conversion Poem (Free—>Experimental): Transform 1 free verse poem you’ve written this unit into an experimental structure of your choice. Here you have full range and freedom to play with the idea of the poem. Remember, this should not entail a copy & paste with a few spacing adjustments, but should involve a reinterpretation of your original poem into a new format.
• Translation Poem: Translate a poem from a language you neither speak nor read. Do not consult with any translation sources. Your translation should come from the visual and musical quality and form in all of its unfamiliarity. Include original poem with your translation, and be prepared to discuss the choices you made with language. (No Requirement to Post)
• [ Optional:  1) Write a serial or sequence poem. 2) Music Poem: Listen to various types of music (jazz, classical, blues, techno, etc.) and free-write to each. Consider how the rhythms of your writing respond to and mirror musical textures. 3) Pacing Exercise: Take one of your poems and rewrite it in two styles: as a fast poem, and as a slow poem.]

WORKSHOPS & Peer Review Letter

Week 14          POETRY

• Final Poem: Take 1 failed poem of yours from this unit and extract 1 line from it that you like. Use this line as the 1 st line of a new poem. (Include in Poetry Portfolio or bring hardcopy to class)
• Share a poem/poet you love, discovered outside of class this unit
• Bring a clean copy of your favorite poem — one that YOU have written this unit — to class (for an in-class exercise)
• Memorize 1 poem of your choice (to be presented orally)
• [ Optional: Revision Exercises ] // [ Marianne Moore’s “Poetry” ]

Poetry Portfolio Due Friday, MAY 3rd

Week 15          Final Project Presentations