Starts Tuesday, April 1st, 2025

Open to All writers!

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Instructor Lauren Davis is the author of the forthcoming short story collection The Nothing (YesYes Books), the poetry collection Home Beneath the Church (Fernwood Press), the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize short-listed When I Drowned (Kelsay Books), and the chapbooks Each Wild Thing’s Consent (Poetry Wolf Press), The Missing Ones (Winter Texts), and Sivvy (Whittle Micro-Press). She holds an MFA from the Bennington College Writing Seminars. She is a former Editor in Residence at The Puritan’s Town Crier, and she is the winner of the Landing Zone Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest. Her stories, essays, poetry, interviews, and reviews have appeared in numerous literary publications and anthologies including Prairie Schooner, Spillway, Poet Lore, Ibbetson Street, Ninth Letter and elsewhere. 

Read an interview with Lauren about celebrating National Poetry Month.

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than to write a poem a day? With the support of other writers, create thirty poems in thirty days.

Lauren Davis will provide thirty poetry writing prompts, focusing on creating first drafts.

Prompts will be inspired by living contemporary writers from across the country, such as Ada Limón, Clemens Starck, David Bottoms, Danez Smith, Jose Hernanadez Diaz, and Tess Gallagher.

Davis will also provide private, detailed feedback on two poems. This workshop is appropriate for all levels of experience.

Note: Peer feedback will focus on what is working in each piece. This is not a traditional workshop where peers give feedback on suggested changes.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS: 

• Engage in thirty prompts inspired by thirty contemporary poets.
• Participate in a supportive community.
• Receive private instructor feedback on two poems.

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Week 1: Seven writing prompts.
• Week 2: Seven writing prompts. Submit one poem to the instructor.
• Week 3: Seven writing prompts. Submit one poem to the instructor.
• Week 4: Nine writing prompts.

Join us for National Poetry Month and improve your craft with Lauren Davis. Embrace the challenge of brevity and transform your poetry with this dynamic, generative workshop.

TESTIMONIALS:

"Lauren lays out a plan and executes it in such a way that it feels impossible not to succeed. She nurtures students and helps them find their way through the prompt into a poem of their own making. I missed one day of poem writing due to having to be out of town all day long. Lauren reminded me that I could go back to write that poem any time before and up to the last day of class. I did as she suggested and she went back to comment on it. She's a very thorough professional. I had no preset expectations, but I was blown away by the variety we were presented with. From Cedar Sigo to Ada Limon, the poems and prompts took us through a broad spectrum of styles and genres, opening our eyes to so many possibilities. I came out of this poem-a-day-plus-a-couple-bonus-prompts with 32 viable first draft poems. It was a fabulous experience. There's always room for improvement, however, this was pretty well done. I think you should be patting yourselves on the back. " -former student

"This class far exceeded my expectations. I came in not knowing whether I could achieve the stated 30 poems in 30 days, and surprised myself by completing 28 out of 30 poems. This is due to the wonderful community that Lauren created; her fabulous prompts, and deep knowledge of contemporary (and not-so contemporary) poetry, her thoughtful counsel; and my very generous and super-talented classmates. I was humbled to be among them. The generosity of my instructor and classmates. The variety of prompts that forced me to stretch myself in ways unimagined prior to the workshop." -former student

"The whole class was fantastic! Introduction to great poets through sample poems, followed by prompts. Lauren's positive, thoughtful, astute feedback on every poem, was often followed by poem that reminded her of your work, which was so valuable. The other talented participants also gave great feedback. The positive-only format for responding was wonderful, especially in a generative workshop. She offered so much. Links for meditation, essays, bios on poets, bonus prompts. I made a notebook of all the sample poems. You covered all the bases with this class." -former student

"I loved this class. Lauren's feedback was timely and positive. The framework of positive feedback only really helped me write more. I also enjoyed being exposed to new forms like the haibun and duplex. I wrote more than I have for a long time. I also found Lauren's suggestions on specific magazines to submit to helpful." -former student

"The most valuable part of the class was the positive feedback and engagement from the instructor and the other poets in the class. It exceeded my expectations. I'm so glad you make these workshops available! Thanks." -former student

"Lauren's class exceeded my expectations. What did I find most valuable? The prompts were inspirational and all the writers brought creativity to the course." -former student

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

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

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with Lauren 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 within the online classroom environment.

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it 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 is most compelling and/or useful for them. Lauren engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from 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. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

• Instructor: Lauren Davis
• Class starts Tuesday, April 1st, 2025
  
• Course is fully ONLINE; students can work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Once you have enrolled the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.
• Tuition is $299.