Writing Your Obsession with Laura Sims

Are you fascinated by Monarch butterflies? Dark matter? Funiculars? Politics? Medieval art? How do you go about translating that passionate interest onto the page? In this workshop, we will explore how other poets have plumbed their passions—Maggie Nelson in Bluets, Sawako Nakayasu in The Ants, Takashi Hiraide in For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut, and Harryette Mullen in Sleeping with the Dictionary, to name a few—and will mine our own new or longstanding obsessions to write a series of connected poems. We will try a variety of forms—from sonnets to collage poetry—and will play with lineation, perspective, and voice to approach the subject from as many angles as possible, and to keep it fresh from poem to poem.

Laura Sims is the author of three books of poetry: My god is this a man; Stranger; and Practice, Restraint. She teaches creative writing, composition, and literature, and is currently a faculty member at NYU and the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop.

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