It’s All About Me: Finding Your Place in the World and the Poem: A Poetry Workshop with Alexis Sears (Zoom)

“What struck me most about the collection was the almost relentless focus on the self. . . Alexis Sears can tell you exactly what it feels like to be Alexis Sears.” - Anonymous

In this single-session workshop, we’ll explore the art of writing the self without falling into cliché, diary-entry confessionalism. Students will investigate how to craft intentional self-portraits in poetry, examining the difference between poems where the speaker is the subject and poems where their presence is indirectly felt through observations, imagery, and objects, and distinguish between crafted and confessional persona. We’ll experiment with ways to reveal identity that are intimate but restrained, transforming personal experience into poems that resonate beyond the individual.

Along the way, we’ll explore the ethics of writing about other people. When we write about relationships, events, or shared histories, how does ownership of the story shift? How can a poem convey intimacy without exploitation,…