CHAX Ecopoetry with Mary Newell

CHAX Writing Ecopoetry with Mary Newell

This four-week workshop will engage you in writing ecopoetry, poetry that engages with ecological concerns. We will consider how elements of poetics can interleave with scientific, historical, or topical information to provide richly textured poetry that honors the more-than-human world. We will read and discuss some exemplary poetry to discover methodologies to apply to your own writing. The variety of prompts offered will allow you ample choice of topics and approaches. This workshop will stimulate you in articulating in verse your sensory and affective responses to this crucial moment in planetary history.

Class Structure:

The class website will contain all recommended reading; participants’ writing and feedback, and general discussions.  In addition, those available can participate in a weekly Zoom on Wednesdays from 1 to 3 pm ET. [See time converter if you are in a different time zone.]
Option 1: Weekly zoom sessions with craft talks on a particular aspect of “ecopoetics,” discussion of assigned reading, and some workshopping your writing, supplemental to written exchanges on the class website.
Option 2: Asynchronous, weekly posting of assignments, giving and receiving feedback through the class website; watching recorded zooms; receiving additional written feedback.

Please indicate which option when you enroll, or email Mary Newell at mnewell4@gmail.com with your option.

Questions about the course: Please email Mary Newell at mnewell4@gmail.com.

Mary Newell authored the poetry chapbooks Re-SURGE and TILT/ HOVER/ VEER, poems in journals and anthologies, and essays including “When Poetry Rivers” (Interim journal 38.3). She is co-editor of Poetics for the More-than-Human-World: An Anthology of Poetry and Commentary and the Routledge Companion to Ecopoetics. Newell teaches creative writing at the University of Connecticut, Stamford. She is an ardent gardener of pollinator-friendly plants.

https://manitoulive.wixsite.com/maryn

Her recent discussion of ecopoetics for the Brooklyn Rail:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIIp-pbuSjM