Poets Respond: Poetry as Political Dialogue with Camille Rankine

“What is political activism anyway? It’s something both prepared for and spontaneous – like making poetry.” – Adrienne Rich

In this workshop participants examine the ways poetry can act as a vehicle for political dialogue, alongside poetry’s ability to critically engage with issues such as war, injustice, and the urgent concerns of our society. Participants will look at essays and poetry by Adrienne Rich, Carolyn Forché, Rebecca Solnit, Yusef Komunyakaa, Lucille Clifton, Solmaz Sharif, Juan Felipe Herrera, and more, discussing how poems address and respond to their political and social contexts through the use of form, found text, voice, silence and syntax, creating a stirring emotional landscape. Through writing exercises and workshop discussions, participants will chart their own courses through this landscape, learning to avoid the traps that sometimes befall political poems, and working to create poems that inspire and provoke.

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