24PearlStreet Workshops and Events
“Poetry,” writes Yusef Komunyakaa in his essay collection Blue Notes, “is an act of meditation and improvisation. And need is the motor that propels the words down the silent white space.” In this workshop, participants will consider various perspectives on the revision process and explore strategies for re-drafting poems-in-progress. While this class is open to poets of all levels of experience, those who stand to gain the most are those who’ve already amassed a sizeable body of work – poems, drafts, notes – with which they are, for the most part, dissatisfied and eager to improve. It is imperative that participants come with an open mind and a willingness to surprise themselves.
Biography
John Murillo is the author of the poetry collections Up Jump the Boogie and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry. His honors include the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the Poetry Society of Virginia’s North American Book Award, the Four Quartets Prize from the T.S. Eliot Foundation and the Poetry Society of America, and the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. His translation of Rafael Alberti’s Concerning the Angels is forthcoming from Four Way Books in 2025. He is a professor of English and teaches in the MFA program at Hunter College.
