The Virginia G. Piper
Center for Creative Writing

Charles Baxter believes all writing is political, an expression of class, gender, race, and sexuality. It’s one thing to imply political themes in our work and another to write directly in response to current events. How do poets address the news of the day without the fear that the topic will be as impermanent as the headline itself? This class explores how a poem about the news can outlast the headline. We’ll discuss poems by Claudia Rankine, Sharon Olds, Dana Levin, Solmaz Sharif, and more, generate material through guided writing exercises, and share the drafts with the class. Please bring current events stories to class (newspapers, magazines, etc.).