Online | Poetry | Workshop

6-Week Poetry Workshop: The Ethereal

Poems are like spells we cast, or dreams we conjure. In this six-week virtual workshop, I invite poets of all levels to join me as we explore our own “mystic streak” (to borrow a phrase from Lucie Brock-Broido).

Over the course of the six weeks, you’ll be invited to write and workshop three new poems in response to prompts I’ll provide. I’ll distribute a short selection of poems by contemporary poets along with each prompt for inspiration. These poems might speak back to the theme of ethereality. You are always welcome to write into whatever themes or obsessions feel most urgent to you.

We’ll use class time to share our dazzling first drafts, as well as to offer constructive feedback on one another’s work. My workshops are warm, supportive environments, designed to help writers hone their drafts into polished poems.

In the end you will have three shiny new poems to share. I look forward to reading your captivating work! 

Class meetings will be held over video chat, using Zoom accessed from your private class page. While you can use Zoom from your browser, we recommend downloading the desktop client so you have access to all platform features.

Check out this page for details about payment plans and discount opportunities.  

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

- Students will have the opportunity to generate, workshop and receive thorough feedback on three poems.

- Students will be expected to respectfully and kindly engage with and offer constructive feedback on their classmates' work.

- Students will read an inclusive selection of contemporary poets along with the prompts I'll provide.

- 10% discount on all future Catapult classes

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

Aim to attend each session (even if you're not being workshopped that day). Come to class prepared and excited to discuss your classmates’ work. Write three new poems over the course of the 6-week period. Students will receive verbal feedback from their classmates and written feedback from the instructor on all poems.

COURSE SKELETON:

During each session in our six-week workshop, we will discuss readings and/or craft technique for the first twenty minutes or so. The rest of class will be committed to workshopping poems. At the end of class, I’ll take ten minutes to introduce the next prompt. Students will be broken into two groups and will have their poems workshopped every other week. I will send out the prompt for the first week’s poem via email a week in advance of our first class.

Week 1: Introductions & Short Talk

Week 2: Group A workshop Poem #1

Week 3: Group B workshop Poem #1

Week 4: Group A workshop Poem #2

Week 5: Group B workshop Poem #2

Week 6: Group A & B workshop Poem #3  

Catherine Pond

Catherine Pond is the author of Fieldglass (SIU Press 2021), winner of the Crab Orchard First Book Prize in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets, Best American Nonrequired Reading, AGNI, Salmagundi, The Adroit Journal, Narrative, and other publications. Pond is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Southern California, where she teaches writing. 

Testimonials

“Pond’s scintillating debut examines family history, female friendship, geography, and sexual identity in poems of startling craft and vision.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“FIELDGLASS does what the best collections grounded in autobiography and confession tend to do: interrogate not only the source of conflict, suffering, and trauma, but also pay homage to what enables us to find comfort and healing.”

Jon Lemay POETRY NORTHWEST

“Absolutely amazing at what she does…a caring instructor.”

former student

“One of the best professors I've worked with. You make everyone feel extremely valued and safe to contribute.”

former student

“A teacher who truly helps you understand what aspects of your writing can improve in detail and how to improve them.”

former student