Worlds of Poetry

Poets are known for experimenting, using unusual forms, structure, and subject material to push the limits on how we use the written word to communicate our experience. Exploring the ever-expanding universe of poetry is an exciting challenge for poets and writers, whether you've only just begun to dip your toe into the craft or you've been fully submerged for years. This bundle compiles a series of OnDemand webinars from critically acclaimed poets Lisa Kwong, Joe Mills, Marry Biddinger, and more, in which share their expertise on writing memory, tackling different themes and techniques, and new frontiers in the craft of poetry writing.

Products included in the bundle:

The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets (Digital guide) - Poetic forms are the backbone of a poet's writing. They are the building blocks for length, rhyme scheme, subject matter, and so much more. In The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms, Writer's Digest's resident poetry expert and former poet laureate of the blogosphere Robert Lee Brewer showcases more than 100 poetic forms to serve as both an informative resource and inspiration for new writing.

Featuring information about their origins and histories, this guide also breaks down the nuances of each form: from number of syllables and type of stanza, to rhyme scheme and similarities or differences between related forms. To aid in your understanding, Brewer shares a sample poem of his own for each form included. ($19.99 value)

Exploring the Intersection of Writing Poetry and Flash Fiction (OnDemand webinar) - In this OnDemand webinar, we will discuss the complicated line between writing poetry and flash fiction, identifying approaches for crafting work that seems to straddle, blur, or challenge this genre distinction. We will talk about quick pivots, immersive concrete detail, and compact storytelling, considering how we can listen to our writing and follow its lead to a particular genre. Revision—including the potential transformation of a poem into a flash, and vice versa—will be part of the conversation, and there will a pre-recorded Q&A to further explore this topic. ($79.99 value)

Writing Our Way to a Better Ecological Future: Solarpunk Poems and the Tradition of Post-Apocalyptic Optimism (OnDemand webinar) - Ecological poet Jeannine Hall Gailey talks about how we can see our way to a better ecological future. With inspiration from artists like Hayao Miyazaki and Octavia Butler, we will look at a few Solarpunk poems and talk about the tradition of seeing a more hopeful, equitable, and nature-supporting society in our future. Because if we cannot imagine it, we cannot create it. ($79.99 value)

Writing the Personal Narrative Poem (OnDemand webinar) - In this OnDemand webinar, we will explore how to write our personal and family stories as narrative poems. What are the stories that won’t let us go? How can we transition from private journal writing to effectively communicating our histories to an audience? We will discuss how to begin, persevere through, and conclude our narrative poems. We will also consider when we are ready or when we need to wait to tell certain stories, especially if they are emotionally challenging. ($79.99 value)

But What Do Other People See? (OnDemand webinar) - In his poem “Musee des Beaux Arts,” W.H. Auden asks us to consider Brueghel’s painting of the fall of Icarus and how the painter shows people nearby going on about their lives. It’s a meditation on perspective, and how there can be people near an event “who did not specially want it to happen.” In this workshop, we will try to consider other perspectives inside of our work. Who else is there? Nearby? What are they doing and thinking? How might they alter our understanding of what’s happening? ($79.99 value)

Greater Than the Parts: On Sequencing, Grouping, and Collecting Poems (OnDemand webinar) - Poems gathered together have a cumulative effect, and, as the saying goes, the sum is greater than the parts. In this talk and workshop, we will consider the issues involved in selecting and sequencing poems for a series or collection. We also may consider how a longer sustained poem can be written in sections. ($79.99 value)

Second Lives: Writing the Familiar with Fresh Insight (OnDemand webinar) - What subjects do we return to again and again in poems? What are the stories and ideas that just won’t let go? What do we notice when we write about the same events at different times in our lives? Sometimes we need the distance of time to see experiences through fresh eyes and to fully render them on the page. Using examples from her own work, Lisa Kwong will discuss how writing about familiar subjects at different ages has yielded new insights and stronger poems. She will encourage participants to not be afraid of old drafts and to give them second lives. ($79.99 value)

On the Poetics of Sound, Memory, and Poetry (OnDemand webinar) - How does sound, as one of our five senses, impact our writing and writing lives? All sounds—a voice, an echo, or a natural or manufactured sound, known or unknown—impact our lives and therefore our poetry in meaningful ways. Explore ideas for deepening a poem's auditory qualities as well as its spiritual and emotional impact. ($79.99 value)