Advanced Poetry with Elizabeth Metzger

Transcending the “love poem,” “ode,” or the “elegy,” how can the twin flames of eros, a life force, and the duende, a death force, open and heat up our poems beyond their topics?

Using excerpts from such possible texts as Martin Buber’s “I and Thou,” Audre Lorde’s “Uses of The Erotic,” Anne Carson’s “Eros the Bittersweet,” Lorca’s “Play and Theory of Duende,” Alicia Ostriker’s “Meditation on Metaphor,” and Jorie Graham’s “Notes on Silence,” we will begin each class with a brief reading of an inspiring poem in the context of these lens essays on the life and death force in poetry. Poems will be by representative authors such as Lucille Clifton, Ada Limon, Jean Valentine, and Frank Bidart. We will alternate weeks workshopping your poems that explore eros and the duende, with optional related prompts given at the end of each class. You will come away from this four-week course with two poems with written and oral feedback from your instructor and peers and a better understanding of how to expand our understanding of the erotic and the duende in poetry and harness the forces of love and life, death and mystery.

Class meets Mondays: June 3, 10, 17 and 24.

Students are chosen by Elizabeth Metzger on the basis of a manuscript submission. Please submit a sample of five poems you consider to be your strongest work. Applications must be received by Wednesday, May 22 at 5 pm. View the submission guidelines and submit an application for this class.

Scholarship assistance is available. Applications must be returned to Scholarship Services at least two weeks before the first session.