Begins Tuesday, August 4th, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PDT): 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM / Chicago (CDT): 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM / New York (EDT): 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM 

Now Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.

Instructor Bio

Instructor Sara Sturek was raised on Long Island, New York. She earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Communication from the University of Southern California and, in 2024, received her MFA in Creative Writing from NYU, where she was a Goldwater Writing Workshop Fellow. She is the recipient of the 2022 Gene and Etta Silverman Award and the 2021 Mark Greenberg Fellowship in Poetry. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Vogue, Women's Health, Business Insider, Narrative, and more. Sara has also taught at NYU. 

Who is this class for?

This introductory online poetry workshop is for poets who want to generate new work, receive thoughtful feedback, and engage in meaningful revision. Writers at all levels are welcome — whether you're drafting your first poems or returning to the page after time away. By the end of the course, you'll have produced and refined four original poems on joy, desire, and the body.

What to expect:

Joy rarely announces its arrival or explains its departure. In this online poetry workshop, we'll examine joy as a complex, often contradictory emotion — one closely tied to desire, intimacy, and vulnerability — and explore the many ways it can be translated onto the page. We'll also look at how sorrow can lead to revelations that usher joy in, and how eroticism diverges from other forms of longing to shape language and experience in distinctive ways.

Each week, Sara will lead generative writing exercises and guide discussions of poems, essays, music, film, and visual art that illuminate new craft possibilities. Readings span work by Ross Gay, Safiya Sinclair, Sharon Olds, Tishani Doshi, Alex Dimitrov, Terrance Hayes, Richard Siken, and more. Alongside close attention to imagery, form, and voice, you'll encounter work that pushes into the strange, the musical, and states of imaginative excess.

Workshop structure is generative and collaborative. You'll submit one poem per week and receive both written and verbal feedback from Sara within 48 hours, plus peer feedback in a supportive workshop format. This creative writing workshop is designed to leave fear, shame, and judgment behind — a space where writers can confidently generate new work that reflects their individual artistic sensibilities.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce four new poem drafts over four weeks, receive written and verbal instructor feedback on each poem within 48 hours, and participate in peer workshop. You'll leave the class with concrete techniques for writing about joy, desire, and the body — and a body of new work to carry forward.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from:

• "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" by Ross Gay
• "Joy" by Alan Shapiro
• "Baby Fever" by Maslen Bode-Ward
• "Ode to Dirt" by Sharon Olds
• "Little Red Plum" by Safiya Sinclair
• "Ode to Patrick Swayze" by Tishani Doshi
• "Today I Love Being Alive" and "Having a Diet Coke With You" by Alex Dimitrov
• "Snow and Dirty Rain" by Richard Siken
• Selected work by Terrance Hayes
• "Good Morning Sex" by Sonia Sanchez (performance)
• "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine (music video)

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Defining Joy Students will explore how poets articulate joy beyond cliché, attending to nuance, contradiction, and embodied experience. We'll read and discuss "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" by Ross Gay and "Joy" by Alan Shapiro. There will be an in-class exercise, and students will draft their first poem.

Week 2: Joy in Elegy Students will explore how poets locate and construct moments of joy within elegiac writing, attending to the tension between grief and gratitude. We'll read "Baby Fever" by Maslen Bode-Ward and "Ode to Dirt" by Sharon Olds. There will be an in-class exercise on writing an ode, and students will draft their second poem.

Week 3: Eroticism Students will explore how poets engage eroticism, desire, and the senses as sites of intensity, vulnerability, and creative possibility. Readings may include "Little Red Plum" by Safiya Sinclair and "Ode to Patrick Swayze" by Tishani Doshi. There will be an in-class exercise, and students will draft their third poem.

Week 4: Joy and Ecstasy Students will examine how poetry engages the strange, the musical, and states of emotional or imaginative excess — including love, obsession, and transformation. We'll read work by Alex Dimitrov and Terrance Hayes, and listen to performances including Sonia Sanchez's "Good Morning Sex." There will be an in-class exercise, and students will draft their fourth poem, experimenting with voice and sound.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Four new poem drafts exploring joy, desire, and the body
• Concrete craft techniques for employing imagery, form, and voice
• Experience with generative exercises rooted in poetry, music, film, and visual art
• Written and verbal feedback from the instructor on every poem submitted
• Peer workshop experience in a supportive, judgment-free environment
• A renewed sense of permission to write boldly and shamelessly about pleasure, longing, and the interior life

TESTIMONIALS:

"I wrote in isolation before I knew Sara. Barely an audience, let alone commentators, to give feedback. To traverse such a brave new world without a guide — it's disheartening. Meeting Sara in undergrad and earning the privilege to implore her for advice has meant never walking alone again. My poetry now has purpose. When I wrote my chapbook, Sara was there every step of the way to sculpt each poem as well as identify the themes I was fiddling with but couldn't name. My stanzas tightened up, my motifs blossomed. She showed me the power of brevity, of letting the audience sit with an incomplete picture or idea. None of my writing would be what it is today without this experiment. And her guidance doesn't stop there. She has introduced me to other writers, been there anytime a poem pops out of my head, and even indulged my other artistic ventures all while she travels around the nation. An excellent councilor, in my opinion, is one who practices what they preach. Sara's portfolio exemplifies the wisdom and philosophy she gives. If you are coming to her for a consultation then I promise — swear it on what I've written and will ever write — you're in good hands." — Taylor Rivers, Actor, Writer, Playwright

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Sara Sturek
• Begins Tuesday, August 4th, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.