A large component of this course will be reading as
writers as a way to chart the evolution of the “I” used by poets in
contemporary American and Pacific poetries. We will begin by investigating the
poetry of confession, to new formalism, to the experimental, the spoken word,
and the lyric to investigate the impact and vulnerability of the use of the
first person.
In this course you will also practice writing poetry that
will be read, workshopped, and performed by you and your peers as a way to
develop your reading and writing of contemporary poetry. You will practice
writing poems from different “I’s” as well. The intention is that the
student-poets’ I’s/eyes shift and change based on various writing exercises and
by sharpening our reading skills. The idea here is that you will create better
poetry through close study.
Course
Requirements:
You will add to the conversation through a series of
poems, workshops, video poetry, podcasts, visual poetry, and performances.
Assignments will include reading journals, two book reviews, two 5-7 page essays
on given topics, and a portfolio project of original poetry.
Required
Readings:
Toxic
Flora by Kimiko Hahn
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
Proposed
Additions by Donovan Kūhiō
Colleps
Slow
Lightning by Eduardo C.
Corral
A
Nostalgiast’s Map of America
by Agha Shahid Ali
We will also be reading
work excerpted from poets like Audre Lorde, Claudia Rankine, Jamal May, Allison
Adelle Hedge Coke, Carolyn Forche, Sage Takahiro, Staceyann Chin, Suheir
Hammad, and Mos Def.