Poetry, Bars, Lyrics

This class will be a generative space to write new poems and/or lyrics. We will start with the lyric poem, exploring key forms and possibilities, and share new work in a supportive setting. We will read and discuss work by a wide range of poets, lyricists, and artists - from the spare and minimal (Karen O and Ocean Vuong) to the witty and acerbic (Sondheim and Sampa the Great) to the verbally acrobatic (Miranda and Blackalicious). We'll consider how poems are scored on the silent page and how they are brought to life in settings by folks like Caroline Shaw and Huang Ruo. Exercises and assignments will help us to think about questions of imagery, phrasing, song setting, internal rhyme, and shifting between registers of speech. By putting the "lyre" back into the "lyric," we will think about - and listen deeply to - poetry's roots in song and the sung.