Poetry
March 4-8, 2024
Open to All
Tiered Tuition
Reserve My Spot This offering is not currently available for registration. Please check back or email Jennifer Jean at jjean@fawc.org for any questions.
About the Offering
LIVE via ZOOM: 7pm-9pm (Eastern Time)
The first line of any poem is the handshake with your reader. How do you grab their attention? Establish a tone? Keep them on their feet—or intentionally throw them off balance?
In this class, we’ll hone the art of crafting effective opening lines by studying a selection of first lines by published poets. Through dissecting these first lines in isolation, we’ll unpack how craft choices create conceits that influence the reader’s expectations as they read forward. Then we’ll practice crafting our own first lines—and full poems—through generative writing exercises.
Materials Needed
No specific materials needed for this offering.
About the Instructor/Moderator
Anders Carlson-Wee
is the author of Disease of Kings (W.W. Norton, 2023), The Low Passions (W.W. Norton, 2019), a New York Public Library Book Group Selection, and Dynamite (Bull City Press, 2015), winner of the Frost Place Chapbook Prize. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Washington Post, Harvard Review, BuzzFeed, American Poetry Review, and many other publications. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, he is the winner of the Poetry International Prize. Anders is represented by Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents and lives in Los Angeles.
Accessibility Information
Their work is regularly exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of over 60 museums. Over the past fifteen years, they have built a sustainable career as a visual artist and have extensive experience working with museums, galleries, universities and nonprofit organizations, publishers, and press outlets. In addition to their own creative work, they are passionate about sharing the professional knowledge they’ve acquired throughout their career with other artists.
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