Begins Saturday, May 16, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Saturdays, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST

🌍 Class Times by Time Zone: Los Angeles (PST): 9:00 AM / Chicago (CST): 11:00 AM / New York (EST): 12:00 PM / London (GMT): 5:00 PM / Berlin (CET): 6:00 PM

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

Instructor Bio

Instructor Desiree McCray (she/they) offers the literary canon a theo-poetic voice that bridges prayer, protest, and prophetic imagination, reimagining the sacred as present within the lived realities of women's lives. Drawing on womanist theology, McCray writes with a lyricism that is both spiritual and subversive, transforming poetry and essays into a liturgical space where lament, joy, and embodiment coexist. Her work—spanning collections titled "Hope Among Other Foods," "Send A Refreshing," "My Sisters Look Like God," and "Black Girl, Brown Soul"—pushes beyond traditional boundaries of genre, blending sermon, song, and personal testimony into a poetics of liberation. In the spirit of Audre Lorde and Lucille Clifton, McCray claims the margins as holy ground, where fat joy, ancestral memory, and radical care reveal divine truth. By fusing theology and literature, she expands the canon's spiritual imagination, offering a voice that calls both readers and institutions to reckon with a faith that is unapologetically embodied, communal, and radically welcoming.

Who is this class for?

This online writing class is designed for poets at any stage of their career who carry memories that demand to be witnessed in a world that encourages forgetting. It is open to all levels and warmly welcomes writers seeking to excavate personal, ancestral, and collective memory as acts of resistance, reclamation, and sacred testimony.

What to expect:

In "Writing to Remember as Refusal to Forget," we explore poetry as an excavation practice—a way of unearthing the memories, silences, and inheritances that shape us. This six-week writing workshop treats remembering as both spiritual labor and political resistance. We will write toward what has been forgotten, suppressed, or erased: childhood moments, ancestral whispers, cultural traumas, embodied truths, and the small, sacred details the world tells us don’t matter.

Through generative writing prompts, close reading of contemporary and classic poets, and supportive peer and instructor feedback, participants will develop poems that honor memory as both personal archive and communal witness. This is a trauma-informed space where all memories—joyful, painful, fragmented, or sacred—are welcomed with compassion. Students should expect to write regularly and participate in generative sessions that prioritize the creative process over perfection.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce a chapbook-length manuscript consisting of 10–12 poems rooted in the practice of writing to remember. Participants will receive verbal feedback from both the instructor and peers during workshop sessions, with a specific emphasis on what is working in the poem and how to deepen the excavation. This is a space for generous witnessing and thoughtful craft guidance rather than harsh critique.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from Lucille Clifton, Ocean Vuong, Natalie Diaz, Joy Harjo, Toni Morrison, Claudia Rankine, Jasmine Mans, and others.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Introduction—Why We Remember, What We Refuse to Forget

Focus: Establishing the container; memory as resistance and reclamation. Reading: Lucille Clifton ("won't you celebrate with me"), Natalie Diaz (selections from Postcolonial Love Poem). Generative Prompt: Write the memory you've been told doesn't matter.

Week 2: The Body as Archive

Focus: Somatic memory; the body remembers what the mind forgets. Reading: Ocean Vuong ("Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong"), Claudia Rankine (Citizen excerpts). Craft Focus: Imagery and embodiment—writing the physical as witness.

Week 3: Ancestral Memory and Inherited Silence

Focus: Writing toward what we inherit; family secrets, migration, survival. Reading: Joy Harjo ("Perhaps the World Ends Here"), Terrance Hayes (selections). Craft Focus: Fragmentation and compression—holding what is incomplete or unspeakable.

Week 4: Childhood as Holy Ground

Focus: Excavating childhood memory; the sacred and the traumatic. Reading: Lucille Clifton ("why some people be mad at me sometimes"), Ross Gay (selections). Craft Focus: Lineation and pacing—how the poem breathes around tender material. Peer Workshop: Share 2-3 poems for generative feedback.

Week 5: Collective Memory—Witnessing History, Culture, Community

Focus: Writing cultural memory, historical trauma, communal joy. Reading: Danez Smith ("dear white america"), Solmaz Sharif (Look excerpts). Craft Focus: Address and testimony—who are we writing to, and why? Peer Workshop: Share 2-3 poems for generative feedback.

Week 6: Revision as Return—Deepening the Excavation

Focus: Compassionate revision; assembling the manuscript. Revision Workshop: Return to 2-3 poems and deepen through craft techniques learned. Craft Focus: Sequencing and manuscript cohesion. Final Sharing: Each student shares one revised poem and a reflection on the collective excavation.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Access memory as poetic material using somatic, sensory, and imaginative excavation techniques.

• Employ craft strategies such as imagery, fragmentation, compression, and lyric structure to hold complex or traumatic memory.

• Produce a cohesive manuscript of 10–15 poems centered on memory as refusal and reclamation.

• Engage in trauma-informed peer workshops that balance generative feedback with compassionate witnessing.

• Develop a personal poetic ritual for ongoing memory work beyond the course.

• Understand poetry as a political and spiritual practice of resistance and testimony.

TESTIMONIALS: "Professor McCray was more than an instructor to me—she was a mentor and guide during a critical time in my educational journey. Her teaching went beyond the curriculum; she saw potential in me and invested in my growth as a student and as a person. Her approach to teaching was deeply personal and spiritually grounded, and she created a classroom environment where I felt supported and believed in. Even after the semester ended, I knew I could reach out to her for guidance because she genuinely cared about my success."

— M. Martinez, Former Student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $445 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: Desiree McCray

• Begins Saturday, May 16, 2026

• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Saturdays, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST

• Tuition is $445 USD.