ALTER

Every other Tuesday
October 21, November 4 & 18, December 2 & 16

Daytime Option: 11am-1pm/EST
Evening Option: 7-9pm/EST

$200-350 sliding scale

ALTER is a communal space to engage in revision as a creative, pleasurable, and radical practice. This is for you if you have poems drafted that you’re curious about, that you want to get to know and shape better, bringing them forward into what they want to be. To the first session, bring up to 20 pages of poems that you want to tend to over the course of these ten weeks - they can be as nascent and messy as you want. We’ll develop these pages into more fully-formed poems, with a clear purpose and shape, perhaps even seeding the development of a collection. In addition to finishing with several poems you’re excited about, you’ll also practice embodied approaches to revision that you can bring to your practice onwards. Open to all levels, poetry focused.

    • Our first session will be dedicated to a guided review of the poems that you’ve brought, in order to understand more deeply what’s already there, and to envision where you want to go.

    • Each of the next four sessions will have three components: First, a prompt designed to reinvigorate or deepen a draft, with some revision time. Second, a whole group discussion of 1-2 people’s work (each poet will get this deep whole group attention once over the course). Third, small group share and discussions of one poem each.

    • As you can see, we’ll spend ample time responding to each other’s work, with an eye towards understanding and refining what’s already there, and exploring what may want to emerge more fully.

  • suggested**:

    $200=pressured resources $275=balanced resources $350*=abundant resources

    If ALTER sounds like what you need and you want to join but can’t pay in full, or at all, please include a brief message when you register. I offer payment plans and a limited number of scholarships, especially to writers impacted by lived experiences of racism and/or transphobia and/or other forms of systemic oppression.

    *Payment of $350 comes with an optional 30-minute 1-1 discussion about your writing

    **It’s up to you to determine where you fit on the sliding scale, given the uniqueness of your context. Some general guidelines:

    Pressured often means that employment is uncertain and/or paying monthly bills is somewhat challenging.

    Balanced often means that employment is fairly secure, monthly bills get reliably paid, and occasional small luxuries are possible.

    Abundant often means that employment and/or finances are secure, savings and/or assets exist, and/or property is owned.

register for ALTER

hear what others love about these workshops

  • “It transformed from an almost silly, satirical concept into something much more sincerely felt and metaphysically dense. There were poetic forms and insights that emerged for me that were genuinely delightful. I'm so grateful to have had the space and time to find those moments.”

  • “It reminded me how much I love writing, being in community with fellow writers.”

  • “This class was the first time I've actually felt momentum.”

  • “Every time you brought us back to our bodies, my poems improved. I loved that.”

  • “It really increased my self confidence and belief in myself as a writer.”