Come Celebrate With Me: A Poetry Weekend Intensive

Using Lucille Clifton’s “won’t you celebrate with me ” as a guide, this workshop will examine writing joy and celebration.

Details

We’ll first look deeply at and discuss this poem, then read and discuss other celebratory poems/songs by BIPOC writers. We’ll dig into how each celebratory work was created despite the dangers or harm each speaker faced, and how many factors of the world determine how we approach joy.

Between readings, we’ll respond to generative prompts that allow us to celebrate moments, life, a favorite thing, survival. This is for writers looking to find joy, center joy in their work, or just celebrate a small thing.

What you will learn

By the end of the class, students will have generative prompts to catapult them into their next poem, a list of other celebratory poems/songs to consider, and a new poem about celebration (or a revision of an existing poem). They will also have a better understanding of writing celebration and how celebration, in the poems we'll read, operates "in spite of."

Workshop takeaways

Students will leave this workshop with an understanding of the many ways we can celebrate with poetry. They will understand odes, ghazals, and other forms as a means of celebration while confronting larger societal issues. Students will also leave with the start of their own celebratory poem, or revision of one.

What you will be reading

won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton, Owed to the Durag by Joshua Bennett, Beyoncé’s Church Girl, Shaina Phenix’s Ghazal for Black Girls in Miami