THRUSH NOTES: Place-Based Writing and Poems
$165
How do we write the sonic personalities of our homes, neighborhoods, and landscapes? In this three week course, participants will diversify approaches to place-based writing by following the auditory threads within their poems and worlds alike. Each week, we’ll identify and write with sound-oriented devices to channel the sensuous qualities of our chosen environments.
Course Outline:
Week One: Home-Diction: Writing Place-based Vocabularies
Writers will brainstorm lists of words that are unique to their chosen places, using local vernaculars to draft poems. Writers will begin a sound-journal to catalogue auditory textures noticed throughout their week. We’ll read two poems that detail close-to-home environments.
Week Two: Soundscapes: Assonance and Consonance
Writers will share from sound-journals to aid in an exploration of vowels and consonants. We’ll read two exemplary poems that employ assonance and consonance, then practice drafting with sonic constraints to craft lush soundscapes that speak with, and to, our chosen places.
Week Three: Re-wild: Forming and Breaking Sonic Patterns
Responding to the uncertain future of our landscapes and communities, participants will practice making (and breaking) patterns throughout their poems, prioritizing wildness, surprise, and juxtaposition. We’ll take a look at poems that detail ecological grief and future visioning.
Access Program
We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.
Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.
Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.
Apply here for the liaison position.
Sam Olson
Raised in Portland, Oregon, Sam Olson holds an MFA in poetry from Oregon State University, where he currently teaches science writing and composition courses. In the past, he worked as an environmental educator, wilderness ranger, and backcountry stream surveyor. His poems and essays appear in Bluestem, Denver Quarterly, Watershed Review, and Portland Review, among others.
