Led by Lauren Brazeal Garza, a poet and Ph.D. candidate in literature at the University of Texas at Dallas. A graduate of Bennington's MFA program in writing, she is the author of the full-length poetry collection, Gutter (YesYes Books, 2018), a memoir-in-verse which chronicles her homelessness and subsequent recovery as a teenager. She has also published three chapbooks, including Santa Muerte Santa Muerte: I was Here Release Me, forthcoming from Tram Editions in 2023. 

Now more than ever, poetry allows us to speak of our own experiences on our terms. Unlike prose-based memoir, which is often preoccupied with the facts of an event, or when things take place on a timeline, the poetry of memory can instead focus on the feelings and senses of a memory’s architecture, and the unique ways our memories connect to one another.

In this four-week Zoom course, we will study and discuss techniques used by a variety of poets who have written their own stories and experiences in interesting ways. You will also draft one poem each week that experiments with sharing a memory or experience and receive weekly feedback from me.

At the close of the course, each student will choose one poem they are most proud of to share with the class during our final Zoom session as part of a celebratory reading.

• Students will study and learn a variety of techniques used by contemporary poets who work within their own memories and experiences.
• Students will explore and experiment with approaches to writing about their life by submitting one draft of a poem per week, begun during in-class writing sessions based on open-ended generative prompts.
• Students will also gain experience reading their work in front of a supportive audience of their peers at the end of the course.
• They will leave the course with a better toolbox for writing poems based on their own experiences, and thinking about ways in which they might read and write memoir in verse.

TESTIMONIALS:

“This was one of the most charming and well-put-together courses I've had the pleasure of taking. Discussions were open and full of ideas coupled with informative lectures. If you participated in class, the rewards were clear and obvious. Ms. Brazeal Garza was an excellent teacher for this subject and genuinely had me interested in new topics.” -Tiffany W.

"Lauren is phenomenal! She is extremely passionate, kind, and smart. She has the student's best interests at heart and makes great points on how to improve our writing. One of the best writing instructors I've had. I hope more writers take her classes in the future. She is also very organized and is an overall great teacher" -Megan K.

"This was most definitely one of my favorites from this year. The course was extremely flexible, and I found substantial value from the course material” -Mark L.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: