Sex, Drugs & Family: Poetry & Memoir
This is no Disney course. Although you may discern or aspire to write your own versions of “once upon a time” during the semester, this class does not promise formulas to “happily ever after” blockbusters. Sometimes, the princess is not a blonde rags-to-riches cis-babe who rocks a fairy godmother. Sometimes, the princess is a queer, working class, femme, disabled, Sri Lankan, mixed poet, who hopped a Greyhound to Toronto when she was 21 “with two backpacks, a tight black vintage slip, and a pair of fourteen-hole Docs.” Sometimes, the princess is actually a Vietnamese son who was born in Saigon and raised in Connecticut, whose name “was fleshed from the toothless mouth / of a war-woman.” Sometimes, writers find more precise names for the men, women, and children who mean “family” to us, more precise language for the ways these creatures – so intimate with our good, bad, and howling parts – shape us.
Whether you are a beginning or practiced writer, this course will allow you to develop your creative writing skills, explore your voice, and participate in a creative community. In the first half of the semester, we will learn the basic mechanics and techniques of poetry. In the second half of the semester, we will approach the art of memoir. We will examine works for their craft and technique and experiment with our own writing exercises.
It is crucial to note that while the writing process is vulnerable, it does not have to be alienating or destructive. Throughout the semester, we will build a learning community that is supportive and thoughtful. As the writing workshop is central to our course, students will participate in at least two large workshops, with the possibility of two smaller roundtables.
Course Texts
The fields of poetry and memoir are vast and evolving, and this course specifically engages work by Indigenous writers, queer writers, and POC writers. So in addition to producing original pieces of poetry and memoir, you will also read texts that include but are not limited to:
- When My Brother was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
- Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
- Proposed Additions by Donovan Kūhiō Colleps
- Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
Welcome to the family.