The Art of the Poem

Led by poet Ariel Joy So, this four-week beginners’ class to poetry will survey poets from traditional to contemporary. Topics include experimental poetry, ekphrastic writing, prose poetry, and lyrical and confessional poetry, considering the relationship between the personal and the political.

Poets we will read together include William Burroughs, Sylvia Plath, and Claudia Rankine, to Victoria Chang, Prageeta Sharma, and Maggie Nelson. We will incorporate exercises such as freewriting, prompt-inspired writing, workshopping, and revision.

All writing levels welcome!

About the Instructor: Originally from Hong Kong, Ariel Joy So is a writer whose work has appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Sinking City, Mother Tongue Journal, Moot Point Magazine, and elsewhere. She was a finalist for the 2023 Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize and the Foothill Editors' Prize. She earned an MFA from Columbia University with a Linda Corrente Poetry Fellowship, and a BA from Scripps College with a 2019 grant funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She has received additional support from the Community of Writers with a Hillary Gravendyk Memorial Scholarship, the Vermont Studio Center, the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. She works at HarperCollins Publishers and was previously on the editorial team at Riverhead Books of Penguin Random House. She is based in Jersey City.