About

**This workshop will be live streamed via Zoom.** 

What makes a poem memorable? It touches things that matter. Learn about the qualities that give poems their moral and emotional reach from Washington state poet laureate finalist Gary Lilley. We will look at writers whose work achieves that reach, including Jericho Brown, Diane Seuss, and Warsan Shire, and discuss ways to bring this into our own writing.

Since Covid, time has become more accelerated, more demanding, and the intensity of the life we wish to live can be reflected in our writing. We will discuss the quality of gravitas and how to write in such a way that focuses on the moment with a power the reader cannot escape. Writers are encouraged to be thinking of what matters in the poems they want to write. Bring your seed poems or create new drafts. Poets of all levels are welcome.

Details:

• Registration for this class will close on Thursday, October 14th at 12:00 PM.
• This class will be taught via Zoom. For a great video on how to use Zoom, watch this tutorial.
• A Zoom link will be sent one day prior to the event start to the email you used to register with. Please watch for this email. You may need to check your spam folder.
• Tuition assistance is available. Click here to apply.

Author Bio: Gary Copeland Lilley is the author of eight books of poetry, the most recent being The Bushman's Medicine Show, from Lost Horse Press (2017), and a chapbook, The Hog Killing, from Blue Horse Press (2018). He earned his MFA from the Warren Wilson College Program for Creative Writers. Lilley is a veteran of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine force. He is originally from North Carolina and now lives, writes, performs, and teaches in the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Washington DC Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. A founding member of The Black Rooster poetry collective, he is published in numerous anthologies and journals. He was a finalist for the 2018 and the 2020 Washington State Poet Laureate. He is a Cave Canem fellow. He can usually be found with a guitar strapped around him.