All Pennwriters Courses are conducted in a “live” presentation format utilizing the Zoom platform. If a conflict arises based on the required meeting times, please contact the instructor and Online Courses Coordinator to find a possible solution. ALL sessions will be recorded.
Format:
- 4 recorded 1-hour Zoom sessions, Wednesdays, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Description: Poetry has always served as a form of social and political resistance. From the ghettos of warn-torn Warsaw to the American civil rights movement, poets have historically been a voice for the unrepresented and catalysts for social change. In our cultural moment, more and more writers are compelled to engage in political topics in their work. However, due to the misinformation on social media, the overwhelming nature of the 24-hour news cycle, and the often-isolating culture of our craft, finding meaningful ways to incorporate our political selves into our poetry is often challenging. With these challenges in mind, this workshop will explore how our current social & political landscape has galvanized this traditional political role of the writer and provide tools and exercises to find one’s political voice in their writing practice.
The first week: The Social Responsibility of the Poet
Historically, poetry is an art form that has been seen as a way to understand the socio-political world. This opening lesson will discuss where this tradition comes from and how it manifests itself in our contemporary culture. We will also discuss specific poems and use them to examine and begin our processes of political writing through prompts and exercises.
The second week: The Personal is Political
We will discuss the intersection of the personal and political by connecting the autobiographical work of poets, poetic movements, and specific poems to different socio-political events. We will discuss how this impacts the poet’s work and explore ways to overcome roadblocks to find a way to employ the personal as a political tool in one’s work. You will also be given prompts to help you find the political voice within your personal voice.
The third week: Poetry of Witness
Observation has always been a part of poetry. Even if we are not directly involved in socio-political happenings, we are often privy to them as either passive or active observers. This week, we will discuss the distinction between observing and witnessing, and the ways in which we can become better observers and witnesses. We will look at specific poems of witness across history and begin to compose our own poems of witness.
The fourth and final week: The Manifesto of the Future
This last week of class will be focused very specifically on our contemporary poetic and political moment. We will discuss poets and poems that have impacted our culture and explore how the role of the poet is or is not changing in our society. We will also discuss the role of truth and technology in political writing and poetry and explore the future of social responsibility through artificial intelligence.
Customer Benefits/Takeaways:
- A deeper understanding of the ways that poetry and politics are linked
- Prompts and poems to use as resources in one’s own writing
- Instructor feedback on exercises.
About the Instructor: Keith Kopka is the recipient of the 2019 Tampa Review Prize for his collection of poems, Count Four (University of Tampa Press, 2020). His poetry and criticism have recently appeared in Best New Poets, Mid-American Review, New Ohio Review, The International Journal of the Book, and many others. He is also the author of the critical text, Asking a Shadow to Dance: An Introduction to the Practice of Poetry (GRL 2018). He has received awards and fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, The Chautauqua Institute, and The Books Publishing and Libraries Research Network. In 2016, he co-founded the Writers Resist organization, which has hosted over 100 events nationally and internationally to help fund nonprofit organizations. Currently, he’s an Assistant Professor and Director of the low-res MFA at Holy Family University in Philadelphia.
Email & Links:
contact email: keith.kopka@gmail.com
web page: www.keithkopka.net