Saturday, July 26th, 2025

The class will meet via Zoom, 1:00PM - 4:00PM PST

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. 

Create first drafts of poems inspired by the work of the confessional poets, as well as contemporary poets writing in this tradition.

Confessional poets such as Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton redefined poetry in the 1950s and 60s, creating art out of the “I.” Controversial, like most great reinventors, these writers turned their gaze towards taboo subject matter such as mental illness, trauma, and the body.

In this generative workshop, we will find inspiration in the history and development of confessional poetry. We will also explore the work of living poets still writing in this tradition.

Davis will provide a handout on the day of the workshop.

COURSE FOCUS:

1. W. D. Snodgrass
2. Robert Lowell
3. Anne Sexton
4. Sylvia Plath
5. Contemporary Poets

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class meets via Zoom. Come prepared for an engaging class with live interaction on Zoom!

• Instructor: Lauren Davis
  

• Saturday, July 26th, 2025

• The class will meet via Zoom, 1:00PM - 4:00PM PST

• Course is fully ONLINE.