WRIT 8210 - Currents in Poetry: Riding the Waves as Editor and Writer (Water~Stone: Poetry)

What urgency moves a poem out of the pile and onto the page for publication? Contemporary poetry boasts multiple aesthetics and thousands of poems making the rounds of literary magazines. How do editors choose what to publish? How do writers navigate the currents of contemporary poetry, making a place in it yet remaining open to diverse influences and in turn influencing it? As members of the Water-Stone Review poetry editorial board, you will work from the perspectives of editor and writer to engage with the ‘thrill of the big littles.’ The ‘big little’ magazine or literary journal traditionally has determined the parameters of American poetry, both establishing standards and featuring edgy new arrivals; that process, one editor suggests, “keeps writers writing and their work flowing … . ” How will thinking—and seeing—as an editor influence your work? You will read, discuss, and select poetry submissions to Water-Stone Review, explore other literary journals, study essays on poetic craft, complete short writing exercises, and prepare poems for submission to journals of your choice. Students will revise and workshop at least one selection of their own work in this course as they prepare their journal submissions.

Prerequisite: WRIT 8110 or permission of the instructor

Credits: 4

Note: MFA writing/elective