Begins Wednesday, January 6, 2027

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

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Instructor Bio

Instructor Benjamin Shalva is a poet, hospice chaplain, and rabbi living in Baltimore. His poetry collection, House of Mourning, was published by Kelsay Books in 2025, and his poetry and prose have appeared in Image, The Washington Post, Spirituality & Health, and elsewhere. He is also the author of two works of nonfiction published by Grand Harbor Press. Benjamin teaches poetry workshops across literary, academic, and healthcare settings. He holds a Master of Hebrew Letters and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and serves as Manager of Jewish Care, Support & Rabbinic Services at Gilchrist Hospice in Baltimore. 

Who is this class for?

This online poetry workshop is for poets and writers at any level who sense that something deeper is available to them on the page—but who find that uncertainty, self-doubt, or the pressure to already know what they want to say gets in the way. This is an All Levels course; no prior writing experience is required. You'll leave with new poems, new tools for working with creative anxiety, and a practice for writing from openness rather than waiting for certainty to arrive.

What to expect:

We sit down to write. And sometimes—when we are quiet enough, open enough, patient—something rises up and surprises us: an image we didn't know we carried, a truth we didn't know we held, a poem we didn't know was waiting. Most creative writing workshops offer craft techniques for shaping words already found. This one starts earlier—before the words have been found—treating not-knowing not as a problem to solve but as the very condition that makes genuine writing possible.

Across four weeks, this online poetry workshop explores what becomes possible when we cultivate the receptivity and attention that the great contemplative writers wrote about so candidly. We read and discuss Keats on negative capability, Rilke on living the questions, and writers like Kafka, Tsvetaeva, and O'Connor who showed up to the page without knowing where they were going. We also examine how these writers understood and worked with the creative anxiety that uncertainty so often brings—and what their practices can teach us about writing through fear rather than waiting for it to dissipate. Drawing on a background in poetry, spiritual direction, and end-of-life care, the instructor takes seriously the relationship between creative vulnerability and the willingness to sit with what cannot yet be said.

Each week combines close reading of poems and prose, mindfulness practices that cultivate receptivity, and guided writing exercises followed by open sharing. There is no workshopping in the traditional sense—no written critique or line editing. Instead, responses focus on what moved or resonated. Each week, students share their writing aloud and receive verbal responses from the group, and the instructor offers brief written reflections to the full group after each session, noting themes, images, and moments that stood out. All readings are provided digitally; there are no books to purchase.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce 4–6 original poems or poem drafts generated through weekly writing exercises, a personal set of notes and reflections on creative anxiety and contemplative writing practice developed across the four weeks, and a written articulation of their own "not-knowing" practice—a brief statement of how they intend to continue writing from openness after the course ends. Feedback is verbal and group-based each week, focused on what moved or resonated rather than what needs fixing; the instructor provides brief written reflections to the full group after every session, and in Week 4 offers each student an individual written note in response to the piece they bring to the closing session.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from:

• John Keats — "On Negative Capability" (letter to George and Thomas Keats, December 1817)
• Rainer Maria Rilke — Letters to a Young Poet (selected letters); "Archaic Torso of Apollo"
• Franz Kafka — Diaries or The Blue Octavo Notebooks
• Marina Tsvetaeva — Art in the Light of Conscience (selected essays)
• Flannery O'Connor — The Habit of Being (selected letters)
• Annie Dillard — The Writing Life

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: What Does It Mean to Not Know? — Close reading of Keats's letter on negative capability and selected letters from Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. Discussion: what happens when we bring uncertainty to the page rather than answers? Opening mindfulness practice oriented toward receptivity. Guided writing exercise: writing toward something unresolved. Sharing aloud; responses focus on what moved or resonated.

Week 2: Showing Up Without Knowing — Close reading of selected excerpts from Kafka's Diaries, Tsvetaeva's Art in the Light of Conscience, and O'Connor's The Habit of Being. Discussion: how do these writers name and work with creative anxiety—their struggles, their practices, their hard-won wisdom? How does not-knowing become a resource rather than an obstacle? Guided writing exercise and sharing.

Week 3: The Threshold Poem — Close reading of Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo," a selected excerpt from Dillard's The Writing Life, and other selected threshold poems. Discussion: what does it look like when the threshold itself becomes the subject of a poem—the moment of standing at an edge without rushing toward resolution? Guided writing exercise and sharing.

Week 4: Harvest and Closing — Participants bring a piece of their choosing from the course—a poem written, a passage discovered, or both. Extended sharing and group response. Closing reflection: what did we find that we didn't know we were looking for? Brief written articulation of each student's personal "not-knowing" practice going forward. Closing mindfulness practice.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• 4–6 original poems or poem drafts generated through weekly guided exercises
• A set of contemplative writing practices for cultivating receptivity and attention on the page
• Concrete tools for recognizing and working with creative anxiety rather than waiting for it to pass
• A close reading grounding in Keats, Rilke, Kafka, Tsvetaeva, O'Connor, and Dillard on the craft of not-knowing
• A personal, written articulation of your own "not-knowing" practice to carry forward after the course ends

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: Benjamin Shalva
• Begins Wednesday, January 6, 2027
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Wednesdays, 6:00–8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.