Poetry and Activism

Poetry and Activism focuses on the art of poetry and activism—writing resistance, revolution, and redress. This course is designed to explore docupoetics, poetry as witness, and other forms of activism through poetry. Students will examine radical social justice movements from the past and present that have used poetry as a tool to fight against silence, oppression, and erasure. Movements including the American Indian Movement (AIM), Black Lives Matter (BLM), Riot Girl, and more will be reflected upon to determine how poetics can promote awareness, deliver messages, and impact positive social change. By reading the works of poets from different backgrounds, cultures, and time periods across Turtle Island (the U.S.), students will practice writing their own poems of witness, poems of activism, poems of manifestos and participate in creating zines or broadsides of their work(s). This course is reading and writing intensive, with weekly writing prompts, seminars, and writing exercises assigned to develop and expand skills of combining poetry and activism. All level of writers are welcome. This course covers exploratory and intermediate work with the credit equivalency of: 4 - Creative Writing: poetics. Class will be remote via Zoom on Wednesdays 6pm-9:30pm. Students must have access to the internet for coursework on Canvas and Zoom.