Poets House offers a wide range of classes for experienced readers and writers of poetry as well as newcomers to the art. Please read on for more details.

Summer Open–Enrollment Six–Week Classes

Introduction to Poetry with Estha Weiner
June 21-July 26
Inspiration Instigation with Rachel M. Simon
June 22-July 27
Same Tree, Different Forest: A Manuscript Workshop with Jason Schneiderman
June 23-July 28

Summer Open–Enrollment Six–Week Classes

Open to all; no applications needed but pre-registration is required; call (212) 431-7920 or email classes@poetshouse.org; $295 each.

Introduction to Poetry with Estha Weiner
6 Tuesdays, June 21-July 26, 6:00–8:30pm

There are as many ways to make a poem as there are poems to be made. In this class, you will learn the basics of writing poetry and a range of poetic forms, read your own poems and hear the work of others.

Estha Weiner is author of the poetry collections The Mistress Manuscript, Transfiguration Begins At Home and the forthcoming In the Weather of the World. She teaches at City College of New York.

Inspiration Instigation with Rachel M. Simon
6 Wednesdays, June 22-July 27, 6:00–8:30pm

The goal of this course is to shape your poetic voice to fit moments of inspiration as well as moments of complete impasse. New work will be generated both in and out of class. Close readings of contemporary poets will inform writing exercises, workshop and revision. Participants will closely examine the work of contemporary poets including Ross Gay, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Eli Shipley, Dean Young and others.

Rachel M. Simon is the author of the poetry collection Theory of Orange and the chapbook Marginal Road. She teaches writing, gender studies and film courses at SUNY Purchase College, Pace University, and Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

Same Tree, Different Forest: A Manuscript Workshop with Jason Schneiderman
6 Thursdays, June 23-July 28, 6:00–8:30pm

How can we bring what we know about structuring a poem to the task of ordering poems? In this workshop, participants will start with small sequences of poems and move toward ever larger selections, considering how poems interact with each other by looking at a combination of student work and case studies (including the two published versions of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel and Alan Dugan’s insistence on calling all his books Poems). Each student will be working toward a manuscript, large or small.

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point and Striking Surface, winner of the 2009 Richard Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet and Tin House. He’s taught at NYU, Drew University, Hofstra University, and Hunter College.