Guided Poetry Reading Groups Winter/Spring 2023
Dear Readers,
The new season of Guided Poetry Reading Book Groups is now open for enrollment. These are facilitated sessions for committed poets and poetry readers who wish to engage in practice of reading more deeply, creatively, and intentionally.
Each month, I guide groups through a close reading of a current book of poetry—books that are overlooked and underrated; books that have something important to tell us about what it is to be alive today.
Outside of meeting times, I support your reading with prompts, guiding questions, and supplementary materials with a special focus on issues of craft. Together, we’ll develop a deeper understanding of how great poetry is made: reading not just for content (what poets write), but for structure, process and choice (how poets think).
Groups meet once a month for two hours, for four months at a time. The fee of $200 includes four monthly meetings supported between sessions by prompts, guiding questions, and supplementary materials.
Economic or other forms of precarity should never be a barrier to reading groups. I hold seats in each group for reduced- and no-fee memberships. Confidential requests can be made via this form.
Spaces are limited to facilitate careful and compassionate conversation. If you aren’t able to secure a spot in the group you’d like to join, please fill out this form to be added to the waitlist. There are groups meeting Wednesday evening, Thursday morning, and Sunday morning. I’m happy to open up more sessions if more people are interested.
Wednesday evening group will be reading:
January: Catherine Barnett’s Human Hours (Graywolf, 2018),
February: Kathy Fagan’s Bad Hobby (Milkweed, 2022)
March: Jack Gilbert’s The Great Fires (Knopf, 1996)
April: Tomas Tranströmer’s Selected Poems (Ecco, 2000)
Thursday morning group will be reading:
January: Rosemary Tonks’s Bedouin of the London Evening (Bloodaxe, 2016)
February: Emily Wilson’s The Great Medieval Yellows (Canarium, 2015)
March: Wanda Coleman’s Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems (Godine, 2020)
April: Vasko Popa’s Selected Poems. (New York Review Books, 2019)
Sunday morning groups will be reading:
January: Polina Barskova’s Air Raid (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2021)
February: Tory Dent’s Collected Poems (Sheep Meadow Press, 2015)
March: Melissa Range’s Scriptorium (Beacon Press, 2016)
April: Raúl Zurita’s INRI (NYRB, 2018)
For more about the reading groups, check out the Frequently Asked Questions. Please contact me if you have questions.
Sean
Links:
You can enroll here