Workshops | Poet

Stay tuned to this space for future generative workshop offerings in Fall of 2023!

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Student testimonials:

I attend a lot of workshops and Julie E. Bloemeke’s was one of the very best. I love the way she used definitions of poetry as an on-ramp, then had us look at exemplary poems, then took us off on a wild ride to get to our own submerged stuff. Thank you!!! It was a great experience. –Judy Ireland, poet and Executive Director at DePorres Place Literacy Center

I have taken five of Julie’s workshops and have never been disappointed. The workshops are generative and her prompts encourage poets to expand their imaginations. I have surprised myself with where my mind will go when given the opportunity. We played in form, enjambment, syntax, and metaphor. Julie is generous, engaged, and insightful! I would highly recommend her poetry workshops to any writer looking to be challenged. –Holly Jaffe, poet

I had no idea what to expect in attending an online poetry workshop, but I am so glad I participated. It was meditation, creative writing, and a mini-college course all wrapped up into a delicious piece of brain candy. I came away feeling just a tiny bit better of a human being and a more awakened writer. –Andrea Strahan

Example of a recent workshop:

Questioning the “About”: A 4-week generative workshop series on memory with Julie E. Bloemeke

Often, in describing a poem, we say it is “about” a particular circumstance, person, or event. John Ashbery observes, “I write with experiences in mind, but I don’t write about them, I write out of them.” How does memory play a role in what a poem is “about”? Can a poem be “about”? Do we write through, to, around, or out of experiences?

Join us for a four-week generative poetry workshop series where we explore how memory informs verse composition. Class will open with a poem that navigates sources and experiences of memory, followed by discussion with particular focus on craft, technique, and approach. The poem of the week will also be a launching off point for a take-home writing prompt for the following class. Each session, poets will bring a draft from the previous week for class feedback. Drafts will be due by 5 pm Sunday before the night of class. Please note, all workshops are a creative safe space of support, candor, and encouragement.

Feb 1, Week 1 Place—geographic, metaphorical, emotional

Feb 8, Week 2 Era—date, time, movement, chapter

Feb 15, Week 3 Circumstance/action—event, recollection, exchange

Feb 22, Week 4 Persona—expanding the reach of the “I”