Led by Javeria Hasnain, a Brooklyn-based poet, translator, and educator from Karachi, and the author of SIN (Chestnut Review, 2024). Her poems have appeared widely, including in Poet Lore, Pleiades, Foglifter, Rattle, and more. She received her MFA from The New School as a Fulbright scholar and is currently teaching at Habib University.

Learn more about Javeria in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

Who says poetry can only describe beauty? In this generative poetry intensive, let us (re)make the ugly, the grotesque, and the abject into poetry.

I am interested in poetry's ability to see everything as it really is, just as much as I appreciate it for metaphorizing. Poetry that does not shy away from the disgusting nature of desire, the grotesque in the beautiful, and the abject in the sacred. 

In this class, we will read Sharon Olds, Bernadette Mayer, Sara Shagufta, sam sax, Paul Tran, and Akhilah Oliver, to learn how to embody language, face shame and disgust, and empower the ugly.

We will talk openly about bodily fluids, corpses, and trash and re-make them into poetry using forms and techniques.

And: we will generate new poems each week.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Boundaries

Week 2: Human/Animal Dichotomy

Week 3: The Power of the Ugly

Week 4: Reclaiming the Body

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Students will learn that poetry can be made out of anything!
• Students will learn how to push their own limits in the way of form and content.
• Students will learn some basic poetry forms of sonnet, ghazal, tercets, etc.
• Students will learn to create metaphors and images.

TESTIMONIALS:

"This course was so great. Dynamic conversation was abundant and class discussion was so engaging. Subject matter was compelling and intriguing. I had such a good time and truly feel like I learned a lot that I will utilize and remember. Javeria was great and very encouraging, always wanted everyone to fully understand and to contribute. Fun and challenging course work and projects. Readings very well contributed to learning. And very much a reasonable workload. Also the Javeria was personable, respectful, and compassionate/understanding." -former student

"One of the most effective aspects of this course was that Javeria helped to create a sense of community within the class, we could have engaging discussions on the subject matter and best of all, have fun with it, which I think makes us learn effectively and have it stick with us for a lifetime. I’ll definitely miss having her as an instructor and being in her class." -former student

"Javeria was very passionate about the course material and made the class exciting to engage with. She had a very clear vision for the course, and was able to adjust the course with ease whenever needed. Javeria also made this course very accessible, being over zoom, and also accessible to writers of all experiences." -former student

"Javeria was a lovely instructor. She was very friendly and engaging. She is really encouraging of students to do their best work and is enthusiastic about teaching!" -former student

"I looked forward to this class and Javeria did a great job at establishing a community!" -former student

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: