Thursday May 3 - June 7, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Cost: $120 (for all six sessions)

In this 6-week workshop we will employ various experiments and practices to generate innovative poetry. Our aim is to uncover the unexpected — to bypass habitual thinking and writing in favor of language that will surprise us and lead us into new creative territory.

We'll explore everything from cut-ups to experimental memoir. We'll do homophonic translations, erasures, and hybrid compositions. You will also make up your own experiments and constraints. For context, guidance, and ideas, we'll read the work of poets Joe Brainard, Lyn Hejinian, Harryette Mullen, and Leslie Scalapino, among others.

This workshop anyone interested in exploring the possibilities of language and generating new material. We will spend some time sharing our work (if desired) but most of the time we will be writing/experimenting. No experience necessary!

Questions? Email Leslie at lbumstead@mac.com.

Leslie Bumstead is a poet born and raised in Washington DC. She is the author of Cipher/Civilian (Edge Books) and Hereafter (Arc/Hive Books). Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, most recently Open Letters Monthly. She teaches literature and writing in the DC area.