Poetry Workshop: Slaying Shame, Bringing Wholeness to the Page

Member Price: $22
1 Session
Deadline to Register: December 11, 5 pm
Instructor: Rage Hezekiah
*CAVE CANEM WORKSHOP

One of the most powerful aspects of poetry is naming what might remain unsaid. Writing poems can be a liberatory process that frees us from the causes of shame. With poems that are willing to go deep as our guide, Eloisa Amezcua’s “I Haven’t Masturbated For Five Days for Fear of Crying; “Confession,” by John Allen Taylor;  “Do-Rag,” by Phillip B. Williams, “On the Night of the Election,” by Franny Choi, we’ll explore our own secrets or shame as sparks for our poems. We’ll contemplate the  distinction between what we feel comfortable bringing to the page and what we resist giving voice to. Engaging with poets writing openly about self-harm, addiction, and sex will open up a willingness to write more deeply into resistant space. What aren’t you supposed to say? What do you wish you could say aloud without shame? What secrets are you willing to tell?

Recommended Readings:

• • • Indecency – Justin Phillip Reed
    • Thieves in the Afterlife – Kendra DeColo
    • Thieves in the Interior – Phillip B. Williams
    • Night Sky with Exit Wounds – Ocean Vuong

Rage Hezekiah is a New England-based poet and educator who has received fellowships from Cave Canem, MacDowell, and The Ragdale Foundation, and is a recipient of the Saint Botolph Foundation’s Emerging Artists Award. Her chapbook Unslakable (Paper Nautilus Press) is a 2018 Vella Chapbook Award Winner. Stray Harbor (Finishing Line Press, 2019) is her debut full-length collection. Rage’s poems have appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, The Cincinnati Review, ZYZZYVA, and several other journals and anthologies. ragehezekiah.com.

Workshops are conducted EST via Zoom, a virtual platform that allows you to participate in exercises and contribute to group conversation. To participate, please register by the deadline using the ticket portal below, or go to Scholarships. Zoom links are emailed to registered participants as follows:

• Morning and Noon Workshops: Link is sent on the day/evening before the class starts.
• Afternoon Workshops: Link is sent one hour before the workshop starts.
• Evening Workshops: Link is sent on the evening of the workshop between 5:15 pm and one hour before the workshop starts.

Scholarships Available