Over halfway through one of his poems, Terrance Hayes writes, “Let me begin again,” and uses the final stanza as a way to reimagine what came before. In another poem by Larry Levis, the speaker interjects and says, “I got it all wrong,” before continuing. What might happen if we allow this for ourselves? To begin again? To admit mistakes, and then continue? How can our poems serve as vehicles to reimagine the stories we tell ourselves, to come to new understandings and new truths? In this workshop, we will use these aforementioned lines as prompts to reframe and reimagine the stories we tell ourselves in our poems.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Devin Kelly is the author of In This Quiet Church of Night, I Say Amen (Civil Coping Mechanisms), and his work has appeared in Longreads, The Guardian, LitHub, DIAGRAM, Hobart, Redivider, and more. He lives and teaches high school in New York City.