
Writing Through Metaphor: A Generative Poetry 4-Week Zoom Workshop, Starts Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Begins Thursday, April 20th, 2023
Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 5:30PM CST - 7:00PM CST.
Now Enrolling!
Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.
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.
This four-week generative workshop will explore the craft of writing compelling metaphors within our poems. We will discuss how symbols and images in poetry can lead us to larger truths about life, ourselves, and the world around us. We will also study metaphors used by poets such as Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Danez Smith, Sophie Klahr, and Ada Limón.Each session will feature a discussion of metaphor within one famous poem, an exploration of different approaches to crafting our own metaphors, and a generative prompt that encourages a new approach or technique.
Each meeting will also offer the opportunity for each student to workshop one of their own poems with the group for the purpose of receiving constructive, supportive feedback.
Through our discussions and explorations, we will discover interesting ways to add dimension and emotion to our poems through metaphor. We will also draft one poem each week that experiments with using metaphor and receive weekly private 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.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
- Study and learn a variety of techniques used by contemporary poets who use metaphor in unique and interesting ways.
- Explore and experiment with approaches to writing metaphor in our own work by workshopping one draft of a poem per week to the class, begun during in-class writing sessions based on open-ended generative prompts.
- Students will have the opportunity to submit one draft of a poem per week to me to receive private constructive feedback.
- Gain experience reading our work in front of a supportive audience of our peers throughout the course.
- Leave the course with a better toolbox for working with metaphor in our poems, and thinking about ways in which we might explore and understand metaphor in the work of other writers.
TESTIMONIALS:
“I love love loved this course! It was super fun and I had a great time. I especially appreciated how much freedom we were given for the writing prompts, and the structure of the workshop and peer comments were so effective and helpful.” -David R.
“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:
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Instructor: Lauren Brazeal Garza
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Class Starts Thursday, April 20th, 2023
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Course is fully ONLINE and will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays from 5:30PM CST - 7:00PM CST.
Contact us HERE if you have any questions about this class.
Instructor Lauren Brazeal Garza received her M.F.A in poetry from Bennington College, and is completing her Ph.D. in literature from UT Dallas, where she is also a creative writing instructor. She is the author of the full-length collection Gutter (Yes Yes Books, 2018), a memoir-in-verse about her homelessness as a teenager. She has also published three chapbooks of poetry, most recently, Santa Muerte, Santa Muerte: I Was Here, Release Me (Tram Editions, 2023), a series of fictional interviews with ghosts. Her poetry, lyric essays, and fiction have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Waxwing, and Verse Daily among many other journals. She can be found haunting her website.