Classes
Poetry Fest Workshop: Finding Our Form: The Ghazal as a Container for Grief, Resilience, and Wonder
Poetry forms stretch us. They challenge us to write more creatively, help us express what feels too enormous to say, and provide moments of pause and reflection. Essentially, they are containers of excavation. In this three-hour workshop, we'll explore the ghazal, an ancient Arabic form that traditionally engages themes of longing, melancholy, questioning, love, and pain. After learning about the "rules" of the ghazal (and how we might break them) and discussing work from poets like Agha Shahid Ali, Isabella Borgeson, and Patricia Smith, we'll craft our own ghazals, tapping into what this form can offer each of us. In a time when grief is in no short supply, resilience is vital but exhausting, and wonder feels difficult to keep hold of, the ghazal offers us a place of quiet refuge and creative resistance. I look forward to co-creating such a space with you.
Special Notes
- Participants will need to bring paper and writing utensils. This class is free-of-charge, however if you need to drop it, please call (804-353-0094) or email (frontdesk@visarts.org) the front desk ASAP so that we may open up a slot to the waitlist. You will not be charged a drop fee.
About the Instructor
Chelsea Jackson
Chelsea C. Jackson is a cross-genre writer, editor, and writing coach, and author of the poetry collection All Things Holy and Heathen (April Gloaming, 2024). They believe creativity is a catalyst for change and use their work to ask hard questions and explore what it means to be human. Chelsea has an MFA from Drew University, is Co-Editor of The Maine Review, and is published in Beyond Queer Words, Driftwood, Hearth and Coffin, Fatal Flaw, and Riverfeet Press, among other publications. After over a decade away, they recently returned to their home state of Virginia to be near family (and the water) and vie for the title of “Coolest Auntie.” They live in Richmond with their partner and cuddly pitbull. You can find them on IG/TikTok @sea_c_j or at chelsea-jackson.com.
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