Writing the Seasons: Spring, Crafting Attention in Poetry and Prose — 4-Week Online Multigenre Workshop with Lindsay Tigue Starts Monday, April 5th, 2027

Writing the Seasons: A Spring Writing Workshop | April 2027 Online

Writing the Seasons: Spring Writing Workshop with Lindsay Tigue
Crafting Attention in Poetry and Prose

Begins Monday, April 5, 2027
Class will meet weekly via Wet Ink, our asynchronous online classroom, with no set meeting times

Now Enrolling!

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Instructor Lindsay Tigue is the author of two poetry collections: System of Ghosts, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize and published by the University of Iowa Press, and Anxious Creatures, winner of the Pamet River Prize and forthcoming from YesYes Books. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Poetry, Bennington Review, Prairie Schooner, Verse Daily, Indiana Review, and Hayden's Ferry Review, among other journals. She was a Tennessee Williams scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference, a James Merrill fellow at the Vermont Studio Center, and a former assistant to the editors at the Georgia Review. She is a graduate of both the MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University and the PhD program in English/Creative Writing at the University of Georgia. She is a former professor of creative writing at Eastern New Mexico University and now works as an Educational Specialist at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

Who is this class for?

This multigenre writing workshop is for poets and prose writers of all levels who want to use the changing season as a catalyst for new work. Write poetry, flash fiction, or flash nonfiction, or use the four weeks to experiment with flash and hybrid forms. The readings lean slightly toward poetry, so come ready to read poems even if you write in another genre.

What to expect:

Spring arrives loaded with meaning: renewal, hope, transformation, return. It is also messy. Storms roll in, things wake up, the ground gives up what it was hiding. In this four-week online writing class, spring is both subject and constraint, and the real work is attention. You will read writers who watch the season closely and practice the same kind of noticing on the page.

Each week pairs close reading with generative writing. You will practice sensory observation, compression, image-making, metaphor, juxtaposition, and experiments with form, and you will look for ways past the familiar ideas of spring. Readings come from poets and prose writers across centuries, all linked inside Wet Ink, so there is no book to buy.

Stay in one genre the whole time or move among poetry, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry, and hybrid forms. Every exercise is built to bend toward the genre you choose. Each week you post a new piece in Wet Ink and receive written feedback from Lindsay by the following week, along with peer feedback from your classmates. This creative writing course closes with a small portfolio of new work and habits of attention you can carry into everything else you write.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will write four new pieces or drafts in the genre or genres of their choice, submitting one piece per week of up to 1,000 words. Build a small series in a single genre, such as four poems, or test yourself across poetry, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry, and hybrid forms. Every submission receives written instructor feedback in Wet Ink by the following week, and students also receive peer feedback on three of their pieces.

Readings

Readings may include linked poems, excerpted prose, and flash prose from classic to contemporary writers, including Lucille Clifton, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Ross Gay, Ada Limón, Dylan Thomas, Scott Loring Sanders, E. E. Cummings, Kim Addonizio, Joy Harjo, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and an excerpt from Charlotte Brontë. All readings are linked in Wet Ink. No books need to be purchased in advance.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Attention & Observation. We practice close observation, looking at how writers use sensory detail, image, sound, weather, plants, animals, and changes in light to make a season alive on the page. We consider the difference between naming an emotion and letting the physical world carry its emotional weight.

Week 2: Complicating Renewal/Rebirth. Spring is often shorthand for rebirth, hope, youth, and new beginnings. What happens when a writer resists those associations? This week examines contradiction: beauty alongside grief or anger, beginnings alongside endings. We read writers who work with these contradictions and juxtapositions.

Week 3: Compression & Hybridity. What happens when we try to contain an entire season or story inside a very small space? We examine compression across genres, paying attention to what short forms leave out or leave unsaid. We also explore the unstable boundaries between genres and what writers can borrow from forms outside their own, especially poetry.

Week 4: The Imaginative Leap. Spring can be a time when the familiar world surprises us again. In the final week, we explore how writers use the changing season as a springboard for imaginative leaps across time, space, and place. We look at the image as springboard: where can a detail rooted in spring take us that feels both surprising and true?

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Four new pieces or drafts in poetry, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry, or hybrid forms
• Written instructor feedback on every weekly submission, plus peer feedback on three pieces
• Practice in sensory observation, image-making, metaphor, and juxtaposition
• Strategies for compression and for borrowing from forms outside your home genre
• Ways to complicate the familiar meanings of a season instead of repeating them
• A habit of close attention you can carry into any project, in any season

TESTIMONIALS:

"The class engagement, the course organization, Lindsay's critiques, and class materials. I also loved the opportunity to chat with Lindsay on Zoom. The course exceeded my expectations. Lindsay is great. Thank you!"
— Olga A.

"I took the 4-Week Online Prose Poetry Workshop: Writing the Prose Poem with Lindsay Tigue. This class definitely exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed the variety and creativity of the prompts and the thoroughness of the material, both of which made me feel like I was constantly learning something new. I really appreciated the course structure and the depth of the material. It was helpful to have a lesson with plenty of reading material and examples before writing my own pieces."
— Former Student

"I loved the extensive and in-depth reading assignments. I also appreciated Lindsay's feedback. Would highly recommend this class to any writer wanting to explore prose poetry."
— Kristen H.

"I found the readings and my classmates' poetry contributions especially valuable. The class exceeded my expectations. I only wish it was longer!"
— Jacinta K.

"The Wet Ink platform worked superbly; I also liked the hybrid mode of asynchronous and optional zoom sessions; class participants were excellent writers; the class size was also appropriate, not too large or too small, but was just right a size to exchange feedback; the course textbook and other reading materials introduced by the instructor were also stimulating enough; submission of four (4) poems for feedback was a generously built-in structure of the class considering the short span of the class and reasonably priced tuition fee. But additionally, at first, I felt uncomfortable about generative writing by prompts. I've decided to give it the benefit of doubt; it was my very first try at its kind. I was surprised by how productive I became through the course. Now I have come to believe in generative writing mode and find it very helpful. I am so glad I took this workshop. Lindsay was thorough, well-prepared, well-organized, and caring for our work with thoughtful comments. She was committed to running the workshop and on top of everything. I feel lucky to have had her as an instructor."
— Myung-hee K.

"I loved generating poems after reading the multiple essays in the reference material. I would highly recommend this class. Lindsay is great!"
— Former Student

"This class exceeded my expectations. I found the structure of the class and Lindsay's availability, prompts, and encouragement most valuable. Take this class if you want to learn more about prose poetry with an expert guide."
— Gary Y.

"The workshop exceeded my expectations in that each of the 4 weeks, a main topic was posted with links to articles in the source text and other readings, with prose poem examples. This allowed for comment on their construction and how that contributed to the poem's effects. I appreciated this critique learning practice. Direction on specific topics every week provided focus. This was my first time concentrating on prose poems, and b/c Wet Ink allows editing easily, I could revise my prose poems after Lindsay's helpful critiques and any useful critiques from class participants. My own work improved, and I came away with two poems that are being published."
— Lynn M.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class is asynchronous, meaning you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines, there is plenty of interaction with the instructor and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback in the online classroom.

You can finish the work as you see fit, week to week, which is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever they find most compelling and/or useful. The instructor engages with these discussions throughout the week, and you will receive feedback on all assigned writing activities.

HOW DOES WET INK WORK?

Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive.

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.