Starts on Wednesday, April 1st, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Wet Ink (asynchronous) for 6 weeks

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

Instructor Renee Emerson is the author of the poetry collections Keeping Me Still, Threshing Floor, and Church Ladies. She is also the author of the chapbook The Commonplace Misfortunes of Everyday Plants and the middle-grade novel Why Silas Miller Must Learn to Ride a Bike. She holds an MFA in poetry from Boston University, where she was also awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and children.

Who is this class for?

This online poetry workshop is for any poet interested in deepening their knowledge of Sharon Olds and applying her techniques to their own work. Open to all levels—whether you're new to Olds's poetry or a longtime admirer ready to study her craft more closely.

What to expect:

Each week in this online writing class, you will study the poetry of Sharon Olds, learning from the writing techniques she employs and incorporating them into your own poems through weekly prompts. You will read Olds's poetry alongside interviews, craft essays, and critical writing on her work. The workshop offers respectful and generous critique of one another's poems, with the goal of supporting and strengthening each other as writers.

Sharon Olds is known for her fearless attention to the body, family, power, and intimacy, and for a voice that is direct, unsentimental, and exacting. While her poems are often described as confessional, they are also carefully shaped, ethically alert, and deeply controlled. Over the course of six weeks, you will study how Olds transforms difficult and intimate material into precise, lasting poems—and how her lifelong practice offers permission, discipline, and craft lessons you can carry into your own work.

This asynchronous poetry workshop meets via Wet Ink, allowing you to participate on your own schedule while still engaging meaningfully with your fellow poets and receiving detailed instructor feedback.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will generate six new poems, all of which will receive critique. Instructor Renee Emerson provides line-by-line critique on each poem along with a page of culminative thoughts, advice on revision, and suggested magazines that may be interested in the poem.

Readings

All poems will be linked online. Readings will include poetry by Sharon Olds alongside interviews, craft essays, and critical writing on her work.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Sharon Olds: Life and Formation

Week 2: Family, Power, and Violence

Week 3: The Body as Knowledge

Week 4: Desire, Love, and Sexual Ethics

Week 5: Shame, Survival, and Aftermath

Week 6: Control, Precision, and the Long View

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Six new, workshopped poems with detailed instructor feedback
• A deeper understanding of Sharon Olds's writing techniques and poetic vision
• Meaningful discussion and community with other poets
• Line-by-line critique with revision guidance on each poem
• Suggested publications for submitting your work
• Craft strategies for writing fearlessly about the body, family, and intimacy

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class is asynchronous, meaning 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 Renee 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 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 is most compelling and/or useful for them. Renee 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.

• Instructor: Renee Emerson
• Starts Wednesday, April 1, 2026
  
• The course is fully online, allowing students to work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Ahead of the class start date, the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.