We will discover a series of exercises to help unleash the imagination and create poems, including imitation and borrowing. Not only poets access their imagination, but also they use specific skills to craft their work. We will focus on two basic aspects of poetry writing: syntax (the way in which words are placed in sentences or phrases) and language compression. Please bring pen and paper with you to the workshop.

Brigitte Byrd grew up in France where she trained as a dancer before migrating to the United States. A transnational poet, she is the author of three books. Her fourth poetry collection Onomo, Flaubert! is scheduled for publication spring 2020. The HuffPost Contemporary Poetry Reviews called her third book Song of a Living Room “some of the most accomplished prose poems of the last decade.” Professor of English at Clayton State University, she also serves as Associate Editor for Tupelo Quarterly. Brigitte lives in Atlanta.