SASFest Writer’s Craft—JOAN LARKIN

WRITING QUEER POEMS: THE POWER OF “THINGNESS”

Two of our queer ancestors, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, didn’t agree on much, but both were firmly rooted in the conviction that poetry speaks to us through our bodies. An essential part of any poet’s work is to find the details that evoke an object, person, or place with exactness. In this workshop, we’ll look closely at some LGBTQ+ poems that enter into story and deep feeling through a particular object or group of objects, often with a dive into greater emotional intensity. We’ll explore this process at work with such poets as Judy Grahn, Eduardo Corral, Audre Lorde, Thom Gunn, and Joy Ladin. We’ll extend the notion of “thingness” to include memorable sensory images other than those that are simply visual. Participants will write something new in response to prompts sparked by the examples we’ve discussed. Whether you are new to poetry or widely published, this generative workshop will free and refresh your practice, igniting work in your own inimitable voice. Joan Larkin’s sixth book of poems, Old Stranger, was published in August by Alice James Books. She received the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award.