Hotel Real de Minas
Camino Viejo Al Panteón 1
San Antonio
33700 San Miguel de Allende,
Mexico
Though the lyric form may loom as the dominant mode in many poetic minds, the storytelling impulse can provide a useful electric charge. This can occur through framing a thought as fable, evoking myth, or even borrowing classic joke structure, where the punch line delivers lyric implosion instead of the comic explosion of stand-up comedy.
Through a series of playful experiments in narrative, students will develop a stronger understanding of how honoring the narrative impulse creates leaner writing, enhances formal dexterity, and both delights and engages audiences.
This workshop is not so much an examination of narrative poetry as it is an exploration of how story is evoked in other modes, and it will be useful to writers of literary fiction as well. Our reading list will be include Wislawa Szymborska, Louise Glück, Russell Edson, Danez Smith, Thomas Lux, and Yusef Komunyakaa, alongside Calvino, Saramago & Suzanne Buffam.
Michael Bazzett
Michael Bazzett is the author of You Must Remember This, which received the 2014 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, The Interrogation, and most recently The Echo Chamber. He is also the translator of The Popol Vuh, the first English verse translation of the Mayan creation epic, which was named one a New York Times Best Book of 2018. His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Ploughshares, The Sun, and Best New Poets. He is a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and lives in Minneapolis.