Hudson Valley Writers Center

Typically, the principle of “Show, don’t tell” is sound advice for poets—we should aim to evoke and enact emotion, to surprise through imagery and sensory detail. In this generative workshop, though, we will explore how we might use “telling” in beautiful, unexpected, and politically engaged ways. We will examine modes and moods of “telling,” like the discursive, the aphoristic, the bold remembering, the conversationally witty, the necessarily strange challenge to the normative. Writing experiments will occur in between discussion of model poems. We will consider how it is often a fresh combination of…

Poetry of Resistance with JP Howard via Zoom During this one-day intensive, participants will write and read poetry as both a form of resistance and political activism. Poets have a long history of using poetry to speak out against injustices. In this generative workshop, writers will respond to both current day events and historical injustices with their own poems of resistance. There will be a discussion on how poets can use archival materials, including but not limited to, historical speeches,…

This workshop focuses on the art of editing, and offers techniques that help writers re-enter that old friend, the poem that’s almost finished, with renewed creative energy. The one you’ve read and reread, and tweaked and put in the drawer. Each poet can bring in any poem they wish, even a new one. Bring in a piece (up to one full page) that’s almost there, but perhaps has been rejected by one journal or more that you respect. The intention is to bring fresh…

While I absolutely believe revision and reading can be taught, probably the only sound pedagogical tool for poetry is imitation.  Writing can be introduced to a person, but ultimately, only poems can teach poetry.  Received forms such as sonnets, villanelles, sestinas, pantoums, and ghazals can understably appear difficult, daunting even, so, in this one-day workshop, participants will closely read, discuss, imitate, and workshop poems that adhere to, as well as rethink, common received poetic forms and conventions.  How do formal…

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom. The first hour will be a craft talk and there will be up to 4 hours of workshopping. This class is capped at 15 students. There are two Altman POC Scholarships given on a first come, first served basis. Please remember not to sign up for more than one per month. Please tell us ASAP if your plans change and you can no longer use the seat. We will open up the…

Join poet and professor, Justin Wymer, as he conducts a one-day craft class on revising poems for publication. Every poem is a living thing, an experiment in feeling and image, an exploration of psyche, an artist’s creation—a perfect example of crystalized subjective experience. Because the eye of the critic (and journal editor) is notoriously subjective, it is impossible to predict what they will love or hate. But it is possible to polish your poems as best you can and to avoid common craft choices that many editors have historically found distasteful. In other words, to…