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Can you observe without taking? Can you witness without claiming? Beginning with Audre Lorde’s question “What words do we not have yet?” and Natalie Diaz’s assertion that “the answer is Palestine,” this five-week, in-person workshop will focus on survival writing as a form of community building and on revolutionary articulations against the systems of empire in which we live. As poet Angel Dominguez observes, “Survival is the baseline ritual we all share, as human beings. That is the daily ritual: how will we stay alive? Whether or not we are actively thinking about it.” Utilizing somatic movement, journaling, poetic composition and concepts of ecopoetics, participants strive to create work / space that identifies and grounds them geographically and contextually, while situating themselves within a larger, revolutionary poetic tradition. Students can expect to engage texts with intentionality and generate work that turns language on its head with unapologetic honesty and curiosity. The coursework derives from the teachers’ shared collaborative practice, which will be utilized throughout in the form of writing prompts, texts and more. The group will look at works by Raúl Zurita, Cody-Rose Clevidence, Mahmoud Darwish, Layli Long Soldier, Brandon Shimoda, Joy Harjo, June Jordan and others to inform and inspire their own writing. Students can expect to leave class with several new poems and work on a collaborative group piece.
Brooklyn Poets strongly encourage all in-person workshop participants to wear masks. Workshop participants may be required to wear masks as an accessibility accommodation for other participants or the instructor.