Strangers Among Us: Writing Poems on Estrangement — 5-Week Online Poetry Workshop with Joan Kwon Glass Starts Tuesday, January 5th, 2027
Strangers Among Us Poetry Workshop | Jan 2027 Online
Strangers Among Us Writing Workshop: Writing Poems on Estrangement with Joan Kwon Glass
Begins Tuesday, January 5, 2027
Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
🌍 Class Times by Time Zone:
- Los Angeles (PST): 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
- Chicago (CST): 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
- New York (EST): 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Now Enrolling!
Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.
Instructor Joan Kwon Glass is a diasporic, mixed-race, Korean American poet and the author of the poetry collection Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms, which won the 2025 Paterson Poetry Prize, the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry, the IPPY Gold Medal for Poetry & the Perugia Press Poetry Prize & was a finalist for the 2025 Balcones Poetry Prize & the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize. Her book Night Swim won the 2021 Diode Book Prize. Joan’s poems have been featured on NPR & in Poetry, The Slowdown, Poetry Daily, Passages North, Poetry Northwest, Korea Quarterly, Prairie Schooner & elsewhere. She is a 2025 SWWIM Writer in Residence & has been a visiting writer at The Frost Place, the Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst College, Smith College & Wesleyan University. Joan lives near New Haven, CT.
Who is this class for?
This online poetry workshop is for poets of all levels who want to write about the people, relationships, places, and experiences from which they are estranged. Whether you are new to poetry or have published widely, you’ll find a supportive, generative space to give shape to a kind of grief that often goes unnamed.
What to expect:
Many of us are grieving people, relationships, places & experiences from which we are estranged. Grief is not limited to mourning the deceased. How does estrangement lend itself to a unique sort of grief? How does it shape our voice? What images, language & poetic forms effectively convey this grief, & how might we use these to generate compelling, impactful poems?
In this five-session online writing workshop, we will read & write poems of estrangement using prompts inspired by writers like Seamus Isaac Fey, Lucille Clifton, Eugenia Leigh, Matthew E. Henry, Anne Sexton, Melissa Fite Johnson, Suji Kwock Kim, Louise Glück, Miller Oberman, Brittany Rogers & many more. Each week moves through a different face of estrangement: from society and self, from family, and from the places and people we have lost.
This Zoom writing class meets live each week with plenty of writing, reading, and talking. Along the way, you’ll hear from a guest writer about their process for writing on estrangement, join breakout rooms on revision and publishing, and close the course by sharing your work aloud. All course materials and readings are shared in a PDF slideshow.
What are the writing goals?
In this course, students will draft new poems in every session from generative prompts, building a body of estrangement poems to revise after class. Students will practice poetic tools such as the volta and white space, try forms including the Seussian sonnet, contrapuntal, nocturne, epistle, and elegy, and share their work aloud for verbal feedback in a supportive workshop community.
Readings
Readings may include poems by Lisa Baird, Seamus Isaac Fey, Hanif Abdurraqib, Nick Flynn, Franny Choi, Danez Smith, Anne Sexton, Edgar Kunz, Brittany Rogers, Miller Oberman, Eugenia Leigh, Donald Nurkse, Lucille Clifton, Hala Alyan, Noah Arhm Choi, Matthew E. Henry, Melissa Fite Johnson, Suji Kwock Kim, and Louise Glück.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week 1: In our first session, we will introduce ourselves, review community guidelines, workshop structure & resources, discuss the different forms of estrangement, engage in brainstorming activities & write poems inspired by writers such as Lisa Baird, Seamus Isaac Fey & Hanif Abdurraqib.
Week 2: This week, we will write poems inspired by writers such as Nick Flynn, Franny Choi & Danez Smith, writers who explore what it means to be estranged from society & self.
Week 3: In week three, we will write poems inspired by writers such as Anne Sexton, Edgar Kunz & Brittany Rogers, writers who write powerful poems on familial estrangement.
Week 4: This week, we will write poems inspired by writers such as Miller Oberman, Eugenia Leigh & Donald Nurkse. We will hear from a guest writer who will share their process related to writing on estrangement.
Week 5: In our final session, we will write poems inspired by writers such as Lucille Clifton, Hala Alyan & Noah Arhm Choi. We will have breakout rooms related to revision & publishing & will conclude by sharing our work verbally.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Students will become versed in the canon of poets who write on estrangement & practice writing their own estrangement poems during class.
- Students will read powerful examples of poetic voice & develop their own voices & styles related to the complex & personal topic of estrangement.
- Students will learn about & gain experience using poetic tools such as the volta & experimentation with white space.
- Students will gain familiarity with poetic forms such as the Seussian sonnet, contrapuntal, nocturne, epistle & elegy.
TESTIMONIALS:
“Joan’s 6 week class was great! She provided a wide variety of readings and unique writing prompts each class which made it easy to generate new writing. She also gave ample opportunity to share our work in a supportive environment. Her comments and reactions to our first drafts were always encouraging. Joan has a friendly competency about her that made the class relaxed and engaging. Look forward to future classes with her!”
— Nancy Murphy
“I was so fortunate to be able to take a generative poetry writing course with Joan Kwon Glass. Joan led a wonderful, dynamic discussion each week, provided thoughtful, insightful feedback on poems drafted during the course, and created a syllabus full of inspiring prompts and poems to spark new work. I hope to take another class with her - soon!”
— Marceline White
“I have had a broad range of experience with all kinds of classes, programs, and collaborations where everyone brings something personally important to the table to make progress on. You provided a space that opened up more and more every session, and I believe this is in part due to the universal respect you gave each and every one of our works. You smoothly identified what each poem was asking for and went beyond to foster new possibilities for us as poets. This lead each of us to grow not only as writers, but as gardeners of each other’s poetry as well. By encouraging us to look beyond what we want out of poems, and instead delve into what the poetry wants itself, your course became a yoga of honoring what’s said and unsaid. Thank you.”
— Sam Canney
“I had the pleasure of taking Joan Kwon Glass’s Poetic Magic class in the fall of 2022. To say the experience was one of growth would be a gross understatement. In this generative workshop, I found a whole new way to look at my work while being exposed to new and exciting poems I had not yet discovered. This launched me into a writing frenzy, producing several poems I hope to see published in my newest collection! Not only was there ample time for writing, exploring others work, and workshop feedback, but Joan’s guidance as a patient and wise instructor with a humble and encouraging demeanor helped to elicit the best from each poem and poet. Her support and insight have been instrumental in my growth in the craft of poetry, and I can’t recommend her highly enough.”
— R.B. Simon, Author of The Good Truth and Not Just the Fire
“Joan is an incredibly kind, welcoming, and supportive teacher. Her classes are deeply engaging and well researched, and she introduces her students to a wide variety of poets and new and important work. Her generative prompts are inspiring, and she offers thoughtful and brilliant insight into work created in class.”
— Jill Kitchen
“Joan Kwon Glass’s three-hour ‘New Woman Warrior Poetry’ workshop was a transformative experience. She’s a warm, welcoming teacher who dives into the heart of poems; and every student seemed to come alive in the discussions. Joan’s imaginative prompts were fantastic— I’m still using them. Plus, her individual feedback was smart, unusually detailed and insightful. I recommend Joan’s workshop to poets at any stage of their writing career.”
— Carla Sarrett
PAYMENT OPTIONS:
Tuition is $395 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: Joan Kwon Glass
- Begins Tuesday, January 5, 2027
- Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Tuesdays, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
- Tuition is $395 USD.