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I’ve just finished another online course hosted by the Poetry School – Accidental Love Poems with David Tait.
Founded in 1997 by poets Jane Duran, Mimi Khalvati and Pascale Petit, the Poetry School is a plethora of all things poetry and the UK’s largest provider of poetry education. It offers a variety of courses of differing lengths and levels, with a new program published each term. I opt for the international courses using its online platform CAMPUS, as there’s no live chat allowing me to write and feed back on work at a time to suit before each deadline.
David is a British-born poet working as a teacher in China and I’ve completed a previous course by him that focused on cities. The prompts have been wonderful and inspired some incredible work, and I’m rather happy with my own batch of poems produced. Before this I did Writing Emotion with Rebecca Tamás and next term I’ve signed up for Elena Karina Byrne‘s Ekphrasis, Art and Translation.
What I love about these courses is discovering new poets, not just through fellow students, but through the assignments and reading set, plus feedback is invaluable, both honing your skills providing it and applying it to your work. And of course they drive you to write! So if you haven’t already, check out the Poetry School, if only to explore the variety of resources and information available.
How can poetry speak to us if it does not take risks, say something bold and new, make adventurous leaps with language and form?
This was the synopsis of the online course I’ve just completed through the Poetry School.
Facilitated by Jennifer Wong, an engaging and insightful poet from Hong Kong, students were encouraged to explore unknown territory, step out of their comfort zone, to experiment with form and technique. Jenny shared work by Emily Berry, Ocean Vuong, Melissa Lee-Houghton, Christopher Reid, Naomi Shihab Nye, David Clarke, Karen Solie and Mimi Khalvati as inspiration, and also provided an extended reading list for those who want to fall further.
We drafted portrait poems, found poems, mirror poems, poems about names, historical happenings, ghazals and pantoums. And once again it was wonderful to connect with poets across the world to discuss work, exchange feedback, and share our own creative practice and inner being.
I participate regularly in the online Poetry School community and would highly recommend browsing their catalogue of courses—Jenny’s running another one, Possibilities of the line, later this year—because it’s always good to broaden those poetic horizons.
J V Birch 