Begins Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET

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

Instructor Bio

Instructor Tina Cane is the founder/director of Writers-in-the-Schools, RI, and, from 2016–2024, served as the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island, where she lives with her family. Cane is the author of The Fifth Thought, Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante, poems with art by Esther Solondz, Once More With Feeling (Veliz Books, 2017), and Body of Work (Veliz Books, 2019). She received the 2016 Poetry Merit Award from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and was a 2020 Poet Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets and the creator/curator of the distance reading series Poetry is Bread, as well as editor of Poetry is Bread: The Anthology (Nirala, 2025). Her most recent poetry collection is Year of the Murder Hornet (Veliz Books, 2022), and her debut novel-in-verse for young adults, Alma Presses Play (Penguin/Random House), was released in September 2021. Her second verse novel for young readers, Are You Nobody Too? (Penguin/Random House), was published in August 2024. Tina is also the curator of Sound and Vision — a weekly poetry feature in The Providence Eye.

Who is this class for?

This online poetry workshop is for anyone who loves reading poems and longs to write their own but isn't sure where to begin. It's an Introductory-level class that welcomes complete newcomers — no prior workshop experience required, just curiosity and a willingness to play on the page.

What to expect:

The Beauty of Beginner's Mind is a low-stakes, high-spirited foray into writing poems, where the music, songs, lyrics, and lullabies we cherish serve as both inspiration and instruction. Over six weeks, you'll explore the ancient relationship between song and poetry, discover poetic form, and pick up practical revision techniques — all in a supportive, generative creative writing workshop built for beginners.

Drawing on more than thirty years of teaching writers ages 5 to 95, Tina's approach goes well beyond prompts and exercises. Each session is designed to cultivate a writer's mindset, habits, and practice, so you leave with concrete, repeatable ways to approach and produce poems on your own. You'll write alongside your cohort in real time, with built-in space to share new work for light, encouraging feedback and discussion.

This is a place to find joy in being a newcomer — to experiment freely, locate your voice, and learn the foundations of craft in a warm online writing class led by an acclaimed working poet.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce 6 poem drafts composed during our live sessions, develop a working understanding of poetic form, and build concrete approaches to composition and revision they can carry into future writing. Drafts shared in class receive light verbal feedback and general discussion in a supportive group setting.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from the lyrics to "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie, "My/My/My" by Charles Bernstein, and "The Old Man" by Gary Snyder.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Lullaby, Rhyme, and Song — reading and discussion of our earliest musical memories and their connection to poetic form; in-class note-taking, writing, and exploration of soundwork.

Week 2: Mash-up — a look at the "cento" form, reverse erasure, and collage; in-class reading, research, and composition of original work based on these principles.

Week 3: Repetition, Rhythm, and Refrain — exploring lists and the list poem, the function of repetition and refrain, minimalism, and the power of titles and epigraphs; in-class note-taking and composition.

Week 4: Punctuation and Accumulation — an exploration of punctuation in poetry, space, and form, and the power of accumulation to create momentum; in-class reading, note-taking, and composition.

Week 5: Metaphor and Metonymy — metaphor as the heart of poetry; in-class reading and discussion of how metaphor functions within a poem and how an entire poem can become a metaphor; in-class reading, note-taking, and composition.

Week 6: Memory and Song as a Place to Begin — revisiting song, in conjunction with memory, as inspiration for writing poems, plus a discussion of revision techniques in connection to memory; in-class reading, note-taking, composition, and on-site revision.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Six original poem drafts written and developed during live sessions
• A working understanding of poetic form and the relationship between song and poetry
• Concrete, repeatable approaches to composition you can use on your own
• Practical revision techniques to strengthen and reshape your work
• A writer's mindset, habits, and daily practice for sustaining your poetry
• The confidence to keep writing as a newcomer and to locate your own voice

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: Tina Cane
• Begins Tuesday, October 20, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
• Tuition is $445 USD.