Writing Your First Poetry Collection

John Brantingham will bring out the poet in you and elevate your skill level so it matches your desire to express yourself.

October 21

Deep memories of early childhood -- Accessing memory,  using the list, meter, sonnet

October 28

Early Teens -- Line breaks, rhyme, internal rhyme, alliteration

November 4

Teen Years -- Using the stanza, cacophony, narrative poem

November 11

Young Adulthood -- Techniques for finding your poetry – searches, free writing, dictionaries, reading, etc

November 18

Being an Adult --The villanelle, the power of the refrain, rhymes and non-rhymes

November 25

Moving on + Kids -- The Sestina and the power of repetition. Regret and hope.

December 2

The future -- The prose poem and the long thought.

December 9

The art of the every day -- The found poem, finding in art, music, and the kitchen, defamiliarization.

December 16

Workshop and publication

December 23

Workshop and publication

John Brantingham’s work has appeared in Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac and in hundreds of magazines such as The Journal, Confrontation, Pearl Magazine, and The Blotter. His poetry collection, East of Los Angeles, was published by Anaphora Press, his first short story collection, Let Us All Pray Now to Our Own Strange Gods, is forthcoming from World Parade Books and his first novel, Mann of War, is forthcoming from Oak Tree Press. He has also published the chapbooks Study Abroad with Wormwood Press, Putting in a Window with Finishing Line Press, The Mediterranean Garden also with Finishing Line Press, and Heroes for Today with Pudding House Press.

$45 per week or $400 for the 10 week course

Sundays 10-1 pm starting October 21