Poetry of Attention: Online Poetry Class with Nadia Colburn, Ph.D.
Poetry as Contemplative Practice.
Be more mindful, wake up,
read closely, live fully,
and write your best work.
Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens to ensure a spot.
Only $497 or three payments of $179
100% money back guarantee in the first 15 days if you're not satisfied.
The Poetry of Attention writing course brings the keen attention and insight of the intellectual mind together with meditation, personal inquiry, and spiritual growth.
Where to begin?! Some of the things I loved about Nadia’s poetry course:
Being able to take the class as a complete beginner.
The amazing people I met, starting with Nadia.
The intimacy, the safe environment.
The division of class time between the studied literature and our work.
The literature we read.
The assignments which I took very seriously, often getting up at 2am to work on them–
Looking at my work as a whole–finding commonality between the poems, having them speak to each other–
Coming back session after session.
Starting my book.
Taking Nadia’s class changed my life and I do not exaggerate when I say it was how I found my true life, my true self.
JOANNE REYNOLDS
Author of Comes a Blossom
"This course was nothing short of transformative. It has been a touchstone in my own evolution as a writer, helping me connect with my own voice and the world in profound ways."
"I finished putting together my manuscript of poems and feel it has more coherence and focus now than it did before. I was feeling lost and now I'm really excited about my writing again."
"This class is an investment in yourself and your craft. Nadia is an incredible guide, whose insight and analysis opened in me one of the most generative periods in my writing life."
As much as the word is overused, Nadia Colburn is an unusually gifted presence and teacher, helping many transform their practice and their willingness to trust themselves enough to get to the heart of what they are trying to say.
She is that rare teacher who creates an atmosphere of trust and honesty. An accomplished writer herself, Nadia brings a rare balance to her teaching: deep reflection and critical thinking about language, ideas, images, and meaning; and a compassionate, open heart that allows everyone to feel safe sharing and offering personal responses to one another.
MARILYN LEVINE
MIT Faculty member, Comparative Media Studies and Writing
Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens to ensure a spot.
Only $497 or three payments of $179
100% money back guarantee in the first 15 days if you're not satisfied.
Module One:
Mary Oliver: The Art of Detail
What you will learn: Studying Mary Oliver's beautiful poetry, we will learn how to apply careful attention to the natural world, sensory perception, language and imagery. We'll also explore how to bring the life of the senses alive in a poem, how and when to use details, and when to ask questions.
Module Two:
Rumi: Poetry as Translation Beyond the Physical
What you will learn: Studying Rumi's powerful poetry, we will explore movement and flow in a poem, inward attention, and how to pay attention with the inner eye and translate it into a poem. We will also discuss the nature of translation not only in poems translated from one language to another, but language itself as a medium of translation.
Module Three:
Walt Whitman: The Poetic Vision and Long Line
What you will learn: From Whitman's invigorating poems, we will explore how to write long lines and longer poems, how to expand, go deeper, see farther. We'll also discuss lineation, the music of poetry, and poetic freedom.
Module Four:
Emily Dickinson: The Art of Ambiguity and Multiplicity
What you will learn: From Dickinson's haunting poems, we'll examine what goes in a poem, what is left out of a poem, silence, rhythm, space, punctuation, inner-seeing, and vision. We'll practice constructing poems tightly, ambiguity, and how poems can be like riddles.
Module Five:
Lucille Clifton: Claiming Your Own Voice
What you will learn: From Clifton's brave voice, we'll learn and practice how to claim, name, shape yourself and your experiences in language and off the page— and the relationship between the two. We'll discuss how to translate the rhythms of your own voice and and experiences into the shape of a poem.
Module Six:
Ross Gay: The Courage of Attention and Connection
What you will learn: From Ross Gay's perceptive and playful voice, we'll explore a wide range of lexicons, and experiences, including the ordinary, the sublime, tragedy, joy, contemporary life, and more. We'll explore how to include in the audacity of gratitude and delight into a poem as well as how to look at the challenges and difficult truths of reality and experience. We'll open our work to both pain and pleasure, resistance and celebration, and celebrate poetry as a place of connection with others.
Close Readings and Interactive Lessons
The best teacher of poetry is poetry itself—in this poetry writing course, we are going to be studying closely some of the most inspiring, moving poems of all time.
In each module, we will look very closely at one or two poems by a poet. We’ll look at the poem line by line, considering imagery, formal considerations like lineation, punctuation, word choice, music, and rhythms of the language so that you understand how they work in the poem and how you can use those elements in your own writing.
We’ll also put the poem in the context of the writer’s other work, life, and time. You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the craft, form, context, and interpretations of a poem and skills to apply that craft to your own writing so that you can write more interesting, exciting work.
This process of close reading will also give you the tools to learn not only from these particular poems, but from any poem.
The close reading will guide you to read interactively—the lessons will pause and guide you to ask questions about poems. You will look and then look again, more closely each time.
You will be encouraged to be an active reader and to read as a writer: you’ll learn technique, structure, style, timing, and more from the poems. You’ll develop your own unique sensibility and voice from your interactive readings.
All poets are inspired, learn from, and borrow from other poets. But we don’t just model ourselves on other poets. We also form ourselves against and in opposition to them as we forge our own poetic voice.
- We’re going to read both reverently and not reverently;
- we’re going to talk back to the poems;
- we’re going to read greedily, as writers, learning and stealing/ borrowing;
- we’re going to experiment, play and be serious all at once;
- we’re going to weep, when appropriate;
- and, not least, we’re going to have fun!
The creative writing course will meet you wherever you are, whatever your background is as a reader, and whether you are in a period of your life when you are rejoicing or grieving, praising, or raging.
Writing Prompts and Lessons
In each module, writing prompts are carefully constructed to guide you through a step-by-step writing process and practice to expand your skills and range as a poet and create a strong body of work in your own unique voice.
Writing prompts stem from the close readings of the week and can be paired with meditation and writing practices. Supplemental prompts are there for you to go deeper whenever you want.
The focus of this poetry class is on your experience as a writer, on your writing process and on the poems that you create, and on the relationship between your writing life and your life off the page. The prompts will guide you to a rich, engaging, and enjoyable relationship with poetry and your own poetic voice.
While we will be learning from the poets we study, the primary goal is for each student to feel that she has the tools and resources to experiment with, enjoy and express her own unique poetic voice.
Mindful Practices
Each module comes with a carefully chosen mindful practice to go with the work of the author being studied that week.
Mindful practices include different forms of meditation and observation and come primarily in audio format so that you can simply hit play and be guided in the practice (where necessary, there may be a teaching video).
By pairing mindful meditation with writing, students have a more integrated experience and often find that they have more access to their creative voice and deeper insights. They also find that they can do more writing in less time when they meditate first.
Embodied Practices
Each module pairs an embodied practice with writing prompts to go with the work of the author being studied that week.
Embodied practices include:
- gentle yoga for all body types,
- walking meditation,
- optional more rigorous movement to get the heartbeat and energy up before writing,
- and more.
By pairing embodied practices with writing, students learn to listen to the wisdom and rhythms of the body and tap into greater intuition.
We will also consider poetry itself as an embodied practice and pay careful attention to the relationship between language and somatic experience.
(Embodied practices come primarily in audio format so that you can simply hit play and be guided in the practice—where necessary, there may be a teaching video)).
Suggested Readings
Carefully selected supplemental suggested readings will guide you to go deeper with each poet’s work.
It can be daunting to dive into a poet’s body of work. The course will select some of the poets’ best works in a range of styles and from different periods. Read these supplemental materials the first time through the course or read them later.
Guided Series for Greater Engagement
Because so much of the poetry we are studying is about connection and compassion, the class also asks you to take the lessons of the poetry that speaks to you and that you write into the world of other forms of action. Each module will guide you not only to engage with poetry more deeply, but also to engage with the world itself more deeply. You will be invited to bring greater attention and engagement to other areas of your life—from the personal to the social and political. Each module includes an engagement section where we take the insights of the poem into our lives; each modules offers a set of guiding questions and practices to come into greater awareness and action and to find the ways that make sense for you (given your unique insights, perspective, experience, and voice) to engage more deeply.
2 months free Membership to the Align Collective
($1000 value)
3-4 live (and recorded) practice/ question and answer/ group coaching sessions/ small breakout rooms per month to connect with other writers. 75-90 minute long (recorded)
These sessions will be at different times each week so that they fit as many people’s schedules as possible. The calendar of live sessions will be posted at least a week before class begins. If you can’t make the sessions live, no worries! The sessions will all be recorded, and you can email any questions in advance.
Plus 24/7 Community space for posting work, getting support, accountability, asking questions and more.
Revision Manual To Go Deeper Into the Revision Process
($300 value)
This poetry writing guide will give you tips of the trade and a process to go through drafts of poems and turn them into great, polished, final versions. This is like a course in itself. Write poems that shine.
Copy of I Say the Sky by Nadia Colburn
($20 value)
A paper copy of my second poetry book, "I Say The Sky", will be mailed for free to participants.
Bonus Module:
Close reading of work by Nadia Colburn and discussion of my own writing and revision process as a poet
($250 value)
In this bonus module, I offer behind-the-scenes information into my writing and revision process, how I put together a collection of poems, my publication process, and give an insider’s close reading of a few poems. I also respond to common questions about the writing process.
EXTRA BONUS: REVISION MODULE
An In-Depth Step-by-Step Approach to 5 Different Modes of Revision. Transform Your Writing through This Powerful Process.
Plus Live (and Recorded) Session about the Revision Process
($397 value)
This Module could be a course in itself and walks you through an abundance of poetry revision techniques to make your poems sing on the page. Wondering how to avoid cliche, use sharp images, work with line breaks, repetition? It's all here.
Revision is a process that asks you to pay close attention to your own work, learn from it, and grow as a writer into your own authentic voice.
We will approach revision as another form of attention, as both craft and practice so that you come away writing your best works and with polished, finished poems.
This is one of the most transformative modules of the course, this bonus module will give you all the tools to write work you love—and enjoy every part of the process.
Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens to ensure a spot.
Only $497 or three payments of $179
100% money back guarantee in the first 15 days if you're not satisfied.
Love notes from my students
This course has been a lifeline for me—to be writing again and connecting with writers. And more than that it's led to powerful healing--body, mind, spirit. Incorporating meditation, yoga and mindfulness practice with writing practice is freeing and powerful. It's a form of resistance to the mainstream-dysfunctional-violent- society. And a way for me to take my creative life/writing life back into my own hands, my own body.
Thank you for creating a SAFE, ENCOURAGING, AND POSITIVE learning environment in which to be writers and to share our stories and our work.
I love this class so much!! It is very rich even the third time around. It has so much depth. It's such a great compliment with Align Your Story. I never get tired of it. Thank you Nadia!!!!
More Love Notes from Students:
Betsy Tarlin
Nonprofit Fundraising and Management Consultant
I had been searching for several years for a teacher who could help me take my writing to a new level of expression while preserving the integrity of my own voice. When I met Nadia, I knew I had found my teacher. Nadia helps writers find the authentic in their own work and in the work of writers they read together. Her workshops are thoughtful, well organized – and inspiring. Working with Nadia, I have created a coherent and strong body of work. Nadia is a smart, skilled, insightful, and kind teacher. Who could ask for anything more?
Isa ALTINK
Poet, Publisher, Editor
Spending time with this course convinced me to quit the multiple-year writing program I was in. The lessons in my program paled in comparison to the modules in the Poetry of Attention in terms of depth, resonance, insight, and real learning material.
This course made me feel in every fiber of my body that a more holistic approach is the direction I want to go in with my writing. That this is what holds purpose and real resonance, and that is what interests me most. I wonder if I hadn't decided to enter The Poetry of Attention, whether that flame would have gone out.
I found the lessons of high quality, and I really liked the engagement sections. Poetry is not a domain closed-off from the rest of life, but that everything is connected - that punctuation somehow relates deeply to how we live our lives. To be offered a way to weekly examine this - what a gift! The live sessions were really lovely too - I appreciate that it's possible to watch the recordings on my own schedule. Oh, and the revision module! Going through that lesson felt like unwrapping a major gift. So many insights and new ways of looking and working.
To not just sing from the neck up, but to use my whole body as a 'sound box' when writing. To look with compassion. To stay with the body and the breath when writing. To study deeply the work of the most skilled writers, and to have more faith in my own intuition and taste, to view them as guides.
What this course meant to me was to choose, really choose, my own perspective and taste, and no longer allow other voices to shame or criticize or "teach" me in a 'superior way' - as though 'real writing' happens somewhere away from me, outside of me, and in order to write better I need to become more like them. It has felt like a very wholesome kind of 'integration'.
Myra Cornelius
Therapist
I am so blessed to have been able to take The Poetry of Attention course. I have benefited immensely: I learned not only some of the mechanics of poetry, but, even more importantly, the class offered me a place of “belonging” to be able to express my unique poetic expression without judgement or needing to subscribe to a particular style of poetry. I learned how to tap into my unique inner poet, while recognizing that the inner critic was always in the background, which is a result of my varied life experiences as an African American.
Before the course, I would hear and listen to the inner critic and allow doubt and questioning to influence how I wrote, but after taking your course, I have learned to allow the writer within to flow and to trust what she had to say as “valid and significant”. In the past, this “inner critic” tended to analyze every thought and word. Now, I am able to “allow” expression rather than “control” expression and, I must say, it is very freeing.
I especially appreciate your mentorship and guidance in helping me and others to better understand the diversity of expression. You validated and encouraged each of us to be uniquely creative, spontaneous and liberal in our imaginations and perceptions.
Although the live classes have ended, I like that I can move through the course at my own pace and readiness and always reap the benefits.
Although I am what I consider a late bloomer, your class made a BIG difference in my life; I feel more empowered and have been creating my own style of poetry. Your class helped me to recover my creative passion.
“
"I was surprisingly happy with the poems I wrote. The course was so life-giving...I couldn't wait until I had some time to write. Even though I was carving out that space to write, it allowed me to be more present with everything else."
—Caroline Triscik, therapist and mother of three.
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"It definitely helped me be a more centered person, which is so important as an activist. The course was a great way to learn about myself and also poets I didn't know about before."
—Eileen Ryan, environmental activist.
My goal is for you to fall in love (or deeper in love) with poetry—and with your own poetic voice. And for you to bring that level of insight, appreciation, and engagement into other areas of your life, as well.
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"I had an idea of what I wanted to say, but this course taught me how to say it. I feel like I have the tools and power to do real art-making now with my material. The course gave me the skills to be so much more confident as a poet."—Brooke Bailey, educator
CAMErON L. MARZELLI, PH.D.
Expressive Therapies, Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Lesley University Certified Reiki Master, Co-Founder: Still Woman, Director of Spiritual Education: Villa Serra Retreat Center
My work with Nadia in her poetry class was personally and also professionally transformative. I deepened my understanding of the psychological and spiritual benefit of attending to detail, and of recognizing significance in the ordinary. Nadia taught me to be still, to befriend silence, to tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity so as to penetrate “what happened”, in order to recognize what I was meant to learn from my situation and experience. There's a reason she has so many positive online writing class reviews. She encouraged and supported patience as a necessary skill when the intention is to dispel illusion and come to know what needs to be known in order to embrace growth and productive change.
Katie ROSE
"Thank you Nadia for your generosity and kindness. I really enjoyed, even loved, the poet's you selected for us to study. I've never experienced a deep reading like we did together and found it exceptionally helpful, opening up understanding of poetry and the particular poem we were reading in ways I would never do on my own. I found the community sessions surprisingly enjoyable and positive as well. I truly appreciate all the time and materials you provided as well as your valuable insights and spirit. I've learned to appreciate more my own unique expression at the same time deepening my appreciation of other people's voices and styles."
Christine Poreba
Poet and Teacher, author of Rough Knowledge
The writing and revisions I’ve done on my poetry since taking this course have seemed so much truer to my own voice, from which I had felt fairly removed for a while. Nadia’s teachings helped me find a renewed joy in writing. I feel overall freer, and my work is much more powerful as a result.
Esteban LOpez
Enrepreneur
I thoroughly enjoyed reading and writing from all the poets we studied. I was hesitant about signing up for an online class, but I'm so glad I did. I have a collection of poems that I wrote in this class that I feel good about, and I look forward to continuing to write and study with you. Thank you, Nadia.
LIANE SOUSA
Oh my gosh, I liked it all. I liked the close attention to a specific poem, I liked being exposed to different poets and poems, I liked how the course invited us to think about our own lives and environment, and how we could practice our lesson during the week through the engagement section. I also enjoyed the live sessions and how rich the sharing of ideas was during these sessions. And of course, the meditation and writing practice was very enjoyable and fruitful.
The course strengthened my writing process, expanded my knowledge of poetry, and opened up endless possibilities for expressing the full spectrum of emotions. Because of this class, I now feel able in a new way to write about mindful, difficult, and also joyful moments in my life. I'm very happy with the poems I've written in this class. Thank you!
Pamela Tanner Boll
Director of “Who Does She Think She Is” and “A Small Good Thing”
I signed up for Nadia Colburn’s poetry seminar with great trepidation. I was afraid that the act of facing a blank white page would be scary; it had been so very long since I had put my longings, my failures and my observations on the page for other readers. But, I had this yearning to come out of hiding. A yearning to be known in the way that one is known in poems.
So, I did sign up for Nadia’s poetry class. I found Nadia’s deep knowledge about the history of verse and poets to be calming. Nadia shared with us poems that used metaphor to both reveal and to hide those deep (scary) emotions. Her close attention and respect for us as human beings and for the writing process allowed me to both reveal and to keep hidden those terrifying feelings.
Nadia created an atmosphere of respect in her class, and I loved both reading and commenting on the poems our classmates had written. This is SACRED work when it is done in the right space; Nadia created that space.
I credit Nadia for giving me the courage to write about and through my pain and fear. It was through this work that I came to a new career—making documentary movies.
Good writing teachers encourage true expression; that expression acknowledges pain and also leads to real self empowerment. Nadia Colburn is truly one of those very great teachers.
“
"My word choice is more precise and my poems are richer. I'm much more prolific, and something opened in me. Writing has become a daily joy; as a caregiver you need to give to yourself, and for me, after this course, writing poetry is giving to myself."
—Katey Largey
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"Nadia empowered me in this course. The course gave me the tools to think of my poetry as something "real," and I've had some great successes with my poetry since the course.
—Robin Clifford Wood, author of the nonfiction book, The Field House
"The Poetry of Attention has inspired and motivated me to write much more regularly than I had for a while. It’s felt great, my brain (and body, heart, soul!) working again as a poet’s brain, both in writing and reading."
"The Poetry of Attention kickstarted a poetry "habit" that has been very supportive during a very difficult time."
"This year I noticed a greater confidence, less hesitation, less self consciousness, less need for praise, not emotionally attached to sharing, no problems with taking writing time and sitting down to work, and seeing poems everywhere in my life. I think...I've become a writer!"
"After The Poetry of Attention I feel like I have an everlasting bond with poetry as a way of self expression and a way to express what is alive in any space.""
"It was so wonderful to spend time with different writers. I feel like the study of each has greatly informed my work. My writing has definitely evolved in the course and I feel myself looking more closely at the world in my poetry, and giving myself permission to play with language. Prior to taking the course, my poems were very tightly focused on my inner world, and that has shifted in the best of ways."
"I feel I can understand my emotions and feelings better."
"I have a deeper appreciation for poetry and I see it everywhere now. I have also expanded my writing, yoga and meditation practices; often combining them all into a healing ritual that I make time for almost every day. I find it so much easier to write now, and even if I'm feeling blocked I know to go back to any of the modules or supplemental readings to get back in the flow. This course has truly enriched my life."
"Since the "Poetry of Attention" course I'm writing poetry again after being stuck for awhile. I notice that more healing is occurring in my life from some previous traumas I'm being more gentle, kind and loving with myself and in my writing/creative life, and I'm showing up more & actually writing some poems that I love. I feel lighter, happier and therefore can express more authentic kindness, love & generosity to the folks in my life and to the world. I've been a Yoga practitioner for awhile, but your courses, Nadia have deepened my practice. I feel more joy & gratitude in and for my body and the way it moves, holds me and takes care of me. And I feel stronger."
"I finished putting together my manuscript of poems and feel it has more coherence and focus now than it did before. I was feeling lost and now I'm really excited about my writing again."
"I got my first two poems published!! I didn't have the confidence to send them out before this course."
"The Poetry of Attention was nothing short of transformative. It has been a touchstone in my own evolution as a writer, simultaneously helping me connect with my own voice and the world in profound ways.""
"I have learned to trust myself and to look through a slanted eye(and be sure to tilt my head from side to side also LOL)... I learned to laugh easier at myself and to be GENTLE. I learned that a lot of the time that I think I am writing drivel, I am actually creating some of my best work, or paving the way there anyway!"
"The Poetry of Attention was so multi-faceted, in that I learned a lot of the form of poetry, i.e. how to write poetry, poetic techniques, study work of six incredible poets. But on a deeper level, it taught me how to my feelings into words, while the revision module gave me new perspective on how to be less judgemental on my writing. I also really feel it helped me to connect and define the kind of writer I am, which is pretty huge."
"I learned how to set and protect my writing times. Meditation sparked my imagination to pay more careful attention to the present and stay focused."
"This class is an investment in yourself and your craft. Nadia is an incredible guide, whose insight and analysis opened in me one of the most generative periods in my writing life."
"I would recommend The Poetry of Attention to any friends interested in writing. The combination of meditation and bringing mindfulness to a writing practice is generative and deeply healing, whatever your intended purpose in writing is. Nadia's approach is accepting and welcoming and the course is appropriate and helpful regardless of level of experience. It's more than just a writing class!"
"The Poetry of Attention has been a kind of lifeline for me--to be writing again and connecting with writers. And more than that it's been a powerful year of healing--body, mind, spirit. Incorporating meditation, yoga and mindfulness practice with writing practice is freeing and powerful. It's a form of resistance to the mainstream-dysfunctional-violent- society. And a way for me to take my creative life/writing life back into my own hands, my own body. It's working. I'm writing poetry again! I look forward to writing, and I'm enjoying it again. I realize that it's a practice that's there for me, and when I show up and honor and love it the best I'm able, it shows up and happens."
"Thank you for creating a SAFE, ENCOURAGING, AND POSITIVE learning environment in which to be writers and to share our stories and our work."
"I love this class so much!! It is very rich even the third time around. It has so much depth. It's such a great compliment with Align Your Story. I never get tired of it. Thank you Nadia!!!!
"I had planned for retirement to be the season of my life where I could finally write to my heart's content, but I had no idea that I would discover so much more about the craft, myself, and my own writing abilities and style to the level I have attained attending your fantastic courses. Thank you so much for all the thoughtfulness and work you have put into The Poetry of Attention and the way we access them through your website and live sessions. The modules are all full and enriching, and I'm so grateful to have ongoing access to continue to grow with your teaching."
Unlike other poetry classes, The Poetry of Attention is like a fully holistic experience.
I bring together my background as a Professor of Literature, an award winning writer, a meditation and yoga teacher, and also an activist. The Poetry of Attention is an integrated experience where different aspects of your life come together.
- A robust literature class where you study the work of inspiring writers;
- A robust creative writing class where you are given specific tools, techniques, practices, and prompts to write and revise your own poems;
- A mindfulness course with guided meditations and embodied practices to get you more integrated in yourself;
- And a life course with engagement practices to help you live in more alive, active ways.
All together the course is greater than the sum of its parts because when we put this all together, it's a transformative experience that gets you writing—and living— from the inside out with greater skill, clarity, depth, and vision.
Do as much or as little as any of these aspects as you like--this course is for YOU so you can use it in the ways that work best for you.
Yes! This class will definitely help you improve your writing in many ways. The Poetry of Attention class will guide you to have your own, deep, transformative relationship with poetry and with your creative vision by giving you the skills you need—both the nuts and bolts and also the processes and confidence—to write with more skill, focus, precision, depth, vitality, originality, and pleasure.
Most poetry classes focus on critique without really giving you the tools to go deeper into your creative process or the revision process. This leaves students in a constant cycle of writing for others and waiting for critique and feedback.
In my more than 20 years of teaching, I have found that writers often feel dependent on other readers instead of learning to develop skills themselves. In The Poetry of Attention, by contrast, you get the tools you need so you can break that dependency on other readers and come into greater trust with your own creative work.
I've been very excited to see students have breakthroughs in this class: this method allows you to engage in larger, more interesting, more unique projects in more sustained ways, enjoy the process more, revise better, and write your best finished work.
At the same time, though students are not writing for critique, I've made sure, through the course bonuses, there is a strong community component to the class and lots of support and accountability. hare as much--or as little--as you like. Decide what's right for you! Interact as much or as little with the community as you like.
Unlike other writing courses, you get to focus on what works for you. You can post work in the private online group where you can connect with a community of like-minded and encouraging writers and where I am present to support you. There will be time on each of the live sessions to ask questions, get spot coaching from me, and share work in small groups in breakout rooms so you can get feedback and connect with other writers there.
I'm here to guide your way, support you, and answer any questions. I'm very present in the course; you won't feel alone.
But if you want to take the course as a self-guided retreat, that is also completely fine!
Plus: because the material is housed online, and because you have lifetime access, you can come back again and again and continue to learn, practice, write, and deepen your experiences.
Absolutely. The close attention that poetry teaches is invaluable for writers of all genres. You will learn to pay greater attention both to the language you use and to the world around and within you. You can choose to write either poetry or prose in response to the prompts. Prose writers are often amazed at not only the new skills they get as writers when they engage in poetry, but the way the form opens up new parts of their story, their creative imagination, and their freedom as a writer. The course will lead you to a new relationship with your writing process and a new way to approach the role of writing in your life.
Absolutely. I'm so excited to welcome you to this course! This course will meet you exactly where you are. You don’t need to know anything more than you know right now. It will give you all the tools you need to dive in, enjoy poetry, and start writing your own work in your own voice. Don't worry about knowing "enough" or having a fancy education or background. We are all language users every single day in our lives. Many people worry that they will not be prepared for this class, but that never happens. This course is a great introduction for complete beginners. If you have a desire to be here, you belong. If you are curious, you belong. We are all experts of our own lives, our own perceptions—and no one other than you knows what you know. Each of us has a song in our hearts that wants to come out and this course will help make that happen. You cannot be too much of a newbie for this course. I'm so excited to welcome you to the world of poetry.
Yes, yes! As experienced poets, we can always go deeper, gain new skills, practices, and insights. And sometimes we need a reboot, new energy, and a deeper connection with ourselves and our art form. In the Poetry of Attention, we study and learn from some of the world's most inspiring and talented writers, so there is always something new to learn. Many of my students have been writing for years, but find new ways to bring more aliveness to their work. This class will meet you where you are and ask you to go to the next level. You can use this class to revitalize or finish a book project, work on a new project, or just fall back in love with poetry.
Poetry helps us get out of the left brain into greater insights and wisdom. Poetry can gently guide us into the places of silence with reverence, give that silence language, and lead us into greater healing, connection, and peace. It can also help us cultivate our attention to renewal and joy. I turn to poetry in all of my major times of transition and poetry has helped me heal deeply--so I will be there to support you from a place of understanding.
Yes! The live sessions (which, again, are a course bonus; they're totally optional though highly encouraged!) are usually held on Wednesdays or Thursdays at 12pm ET or 3pm ET with some other times to meet as many people's schedules as possible, but if you can't make them live, don’t worry. Each session will be recorded so that you can watch on your own schedule, and you can submit questions in advance. We have students on every continent, and it's impossible to match everyone's schedule. Some students come to all the live sessions; some can't make any of them live or prefer to watch them as recordings. Whatever you do, you'll have a very rich experience and there are other ways to connect with the community and be an integral part of the course.
You get lifetime access to all the online teaching materials. Unlike regular poetry classes, there is no need to do it all this fall. Come back to the teachings, practices, prompts, and readings whenever you want! Sign up now while the course is open for enrollment and come through on your own schedule.
Investing in this course is investing in yourself. I ask you to consider the cost of not giving space and attention to your creative life. An investment in your creativity is an investment in every part of your wellbeing—including your physical and emotional. Similarly, the quality of your attention affects every aspect of your well being and your art--whatever form you practice in. You will come away from the cousre with new skills, a strong original body of work, and a new pleasure and appreciation for not only poetry but also new forms of attention and engagement in every area of your life. And you'll be able to return to the material whenever you like, going deeper each time.
I chose the six writers we study in depth because they are some of my favorites and some of the most inspiring writers of all time. As we look at their work week by week, they will teach us some of the best tools and tips for writing great, engaging work. Each of the poets we study teaches us something slightly different while also re-enforcing how poets use the same toolset to different effect: Mary Oliver teaches the art of presence and detail. Rumi reminds us that all poetry is an act of translation, no matter what language it is written in. Whitman and Dickinson each re-invent American poetry and invite us to expand our vision in very different ways. Lucille Clifton teaches us to claim our own, authentic speaking voice. And Ross Gay, a contemporary writer, invites us to bring the full range of experience into our work and asks us to think—and feel—the complexity of attention itself in our complex social world.
I love these poets. If you are new to their work, you don't need any background knowledge to enjoy the course. If you know their work well, I think you will learn new things from the course. I know I learn something new each time I study these poets' work.
Yes! I believe in this course 100%. If you sign up for the course and are unhappy with it, I offer a 100% money back guarantee within the first 30 days of the course’s start date. I only ask that you try the material; signing up is a sign that you want to support your writing life and I to encourage you to do that. Since the course comes with lifetime access, not having the time to work with the material is not a reason for me to offer a refund. If you do the work, I feel confident that you will enjoy it, but if do the work of the first three modules (not including supplemental material) and it's not for you, just let me know; show me you’ve done the work, and I’ll return your money with no hard feelings.
"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity… It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action….The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems" - Audre Lorde
Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens to ensure a spot.
Only $497 or three payments of $179
100% money back guarantee in the first 15 days if you're not satisfied.
15-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
Signing up for this course is a commitment to your voice and to the artist in you. I want to encourage you to honor that commitment. I stand 100% behind the quality of the course. If you’re not satisfied, I offer a 100% money-back guarantee. I only ask that you try the material in the first three modules and show me that you have engaged with the work. If you try it and it's not for you, you get a refund. Because the course comes with lifetime access, I don't offer refunds if you don't have time to engage in the material.
Many teachers and therapists are able to get continuing education credits/ hours for their time in the class.
This is also a tax-deductible expense not only for teachers and therapists, but also for many writers, creatives, and business owners.