Sundress Academy for the Arts Presents “Reimagining the Poetic Form”: A Writers Workshop

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is excited to present “Reimagining the Poetic Form,” a workshop led by Ernesto L. Abeytia on March 9, 2022, from 6-7:30 PM. This event will be held over Zoom. Participants can access the event at tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

Writing within the parameters of poetic forms can be both freeing and generative. In this online workshop, students will be introduced to various poetic forms (i.e. sestina, sonnet, villanelle, pantoum, haiku, renga, abecedarian, ghazal, and golden shovel), their history and cultural significance, how they have been used in the past, and how they are being used now. Examples may include poems by Natalie Diaz, Ada Limón, Ocean Vuong, Terrence Hayes, Jericho Brown, Rita Dove, Nikki Finney, Maggie Smith, Ross Gay, Gabrielle Bates, Tiana Clark, and Diana Khoi Nguyen, among other poets past and present.

Students will also be given time and prompts in order to generate their own work within these forms. The purpose of this workshop is to introduce students to the many ways in which poetry can take new and surprising shapes as written by today’s most imaginative poets.

While there is no fee for this workshop, those who are able and appreciative can make direct donations via PayPal or Venmo @eabeytia or Cash App $eabeytia.

Ernesto L. Abeytia is a Basque- and Spanish-American poet and teacher. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Fugue, Crab Orchard Review, PBS NewsHour, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, an MA in English from Saint Louis University, and an MA in Anglo/North-American Cultural and Literary Studies from the Autonomous University of Madrid in Madrid, Spain. He currently teaches at Binghamton University and Arizona State University.