Drew’s workshop at the Poetry Project sounds absolutely terrific, not least because he’s teaching some of my very favorite writers. I was thinking of using some Opal Whitely in my fall Poetry Project workshop as well (thank you, Anselm) — he beat me to the punch!

My course description:

VERSions: Writing Our Enthusiasms

In this conclave you will investigate techniques to help you attain **maximally energized** writing and write exactly what you need to read. We’ll approach verse as versions (as in rewrites or cover tunes), animadversions (‘strong criticisms” of prevailing orders), subversions, controversy, perversions (including the violent sexiness of semantic & grammatical friction), reversions (examining and borrowing from really old sources), obversions (turns and alterations), aversions (“the poetics of disgust”),introversions (amniotic or private language, hypnosis), conversions (of our enthusiasms and obsessions into verbal artefacts), diversions (in the form of frivolous poetry “parlor games”), diversity (with special attention to “other” cultures), vertigo, conversions (collaborations) and even quaquaversions: “a dome-like dipping in all directions”. The reading list will be determined by conversation. Participants will: explore and articulate their poetic assumptions, share inspirations (including those outside of literature), learn to develop a “magpie poetics”, write at least one piece collaboratively, and enhance at least one poem with music, costume, props, or movement for performance (extroversion!).