PSNY + Haricot Vert Present: Directed by Desire, the Poetic Pride Pop-Up of Your Dreams!
This is a generative workshop where we will practice playing and yielding to our curiosity and unexamined impulses.
Through a series of meditative and somatic writing prompts, participants will create poems that are grounded by our bodies and moved by our pleasure. Directed by Desire: play as practice calls upon writers to follow the thread of what feels good.
In this space, we invite you to write first and ask questions later!
What happens when we refuse perfection and immediacy in the writing process? What happens when we let our subconscious, wonder, and satisfaction steer our poetry? In a refusal of our obvious and most reached for modes of meaning making, the writers in this workshop will pick up their shadowed voices and dustiest poetic tools to create new doorways into the heart of their poems.
Together, we will look at and discuss a series of mentor texts from poets such as Nicole Sealey, Marie Howe, Asiya Wadud, Ama Codjoe, Emily Skillings, and June Jordan. Time will be offered at the end for those interested to share and discuss what they wrote.
About the Instructor: Dylan Gilbert is a poet, editor, educator, and curator from Michigan. She holds an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. Dylan is a founding member of Saltlick Collective and an editor-at-large for Milk Press. Dylan's poetry has been awarded The Quinn Creative Writing Thesis Prize, The Hopwood Award, and The Roy W. Coden Memorial Fellowship. Her work often deals with mourning, girlhood, queerness, blackness, and lineage. Dylan’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Maine Review, Black Warrior Review, Salt Hill Journal, and elsewhere.
About PSNY: The Poetry Society of New York is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to promoting poetry within our culture. We envision a world where poetry is not just celebrated, but vital and accessible to all: breaking down barriers, inspiring joy, and uplifting diverse voices. Rooted in the belief that poetry belongs to us all, our mission is to create experiences of poetry where people from all walks of life can explore, express, play, and find a sense of belonging. By prioritizing accessibility, experimentation, collaboration, and undeniable fun, we aim to foster community and innovation in the often stale and isolating literary sphere. Each of our programs offers an invitation into a vibrant poetry world specifically designed to stimulate discovery, wonder, and life-long friendships between artists. Learn more at poetrysocietyny.org!
Climbing a flight of stairs is necessary to access the workshop space. Need accessibility accomodations? Please reach out to Tova at tova@poetrysocietyny.org!
