Digging Deep: A Generative Writing Workshop with Lee Romer Kaplan

We’re beginning to remember that the first poets didn’t come out of a classroom, that poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, “Ahhh.” That was the first poem.

–Lucille Clifton

In this time of social distancing and pandemic, this three-session remote workshop is designed to bypass constriction and limitation by offering portals into imagery, language, and creative expression. Using a variety of prompts, both individual and collaborative, we will dig deep and unearth the material of memory, the raw clay from which to generate new writing, both poetry and prose, in our workshop and beyond.

Your instructor will draw upon Amherst Writers & Artists Method, journaling, dream work, and other practices that center the writer and protect the writer’s voice and vision for the work. Whether you are new to writing or much published, you will find sustenance here. You will leave this class with new poems or short prose pieces, and a trove of inspiration for future work. At least two pieces will receive peer feedback in a small group workshop and, if the student desires feedback from the instructor, at least one piece will receive oral feedback from her.