October 16-17; 10am-3pm EST w/lunch break each day, Zoom
$250 w/financial aid available to residents of Greater Philadelphia (Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties)
No application required, registration is rolling. Deadline to register is October 8th at 5pm

Muriel Rukeyser said that “In school we learn how precious poetry is, how important it is to civilization, but we are not taught how to use it.” This weekend intensive will explore some of the precious and practical uses of poetry beyond the Norton Anthology and MFA. If you are interested in cultivating a public poetry practice in settings like schools and parks, train stations, laundromats, prisons, and shelters; if you want to work with integrity as a poet with marginalized and vulnerable communities; if you wish to respectfully co-create as a poet with communities and other artists through event organizing and digital platforms, this course might be for you. Each class will feature a curated panel discussion with poets who have been active in community spaces and programs in Philadelphia and beyond. 

Questions this course will explore through readings, discussions, in-class writing, and guest speakers include: 

• How have poets worked and are currently working outside of traditional academic spaces?

• What other paths are available to poets besides college/university study, teaching, and publication? 

• How are poets both private/public cultural producers?

• How can we shape learning experiences and events around poetry that disrupt elitist, colonialist assumptions and are inclusive of voices and bodies of all kinds and backgrounds? 

• What makes poetry readings, workshops, and festivals effective vehicles for community organizing and what are the possibilities and/or limitations of their impact?

• What is “poetry for the people” and "poetry as a public art" and what do they look like in the future? 

• How can we resource and sustain the invisible public labor and contributions of poets?

Experimental and generative, this course will function as kitchen table, lab, and stage, with an emphasis on reflection and collaboration. Our work together will be messy, moving, tender, and unfinished. This is a school for the unschooled or the refused to be schooled. All walks of life and levels welcome. 

Yolanda Wisher is a public poet. At 23, she became the first poet laureate of the Pennsylvania county where she grew up. She served as the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia in 2016-2017. The author of the book Monk Eats an Afro and co-editor of the anthology Peace is a Haiku Song with Sonia Sanchez, Wisher performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters. Wisher is a Cave Canem and Pew Fellow and received the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award for her commitment to art for social change. She holds an M.A. in English/Poetry from Temple University as well as a B.A. in English/Black Studies from Lafayette College. In addition to working as a high school English teacher and arts administrator, Wisher has led numerous community-driven programs rooted in the practice of poetry as a public art, including a neighborhood festival, literary takeovers of local museums, a series of poetry church services, a radio show and podcast, and a poetic address to the nation. She currently works as the Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary and the Consulting Curator for the Free Library of Philadelphia's Chronicling Resistance project.

To register without financial aid, click the “purchase” button below. To apply for financial aid for this class, fill out the form here.