In conservation, “rewilding” is the work of restoring ecosystems through repairing connections among the many plant, animal, and fungi species sharing a place. In this class, we will use the concept of “rewilding” to rethink how we approach nature poems, examining both critical texts and poems to explore alternate ways to engage with nonhuman life in our creative work.

To-do lists, wish lists, bucket lists, playlists, reading lists, shopping lists, guest lists, top-ten lists. We all write them or use them. While the list is a recognizable and practical tool in everyday life, it can also be a powerful—and fun—poetic form. The list poem, or catalog poem, has been written by poets from Homer and Walt Whitman to Danez Smith and Danusha Laméris.

In this workshop, we will explore how different vowel sounds can shape the tones of our writing and incite corresponding responses in readers. Vowels resonate at different levels in the body; they relate to the chakras as well as to anatomical resonators and can tap all layers of our physical and spiritual being.

Teaching artists Maureen Alsop and Joshua Davis reunite for this four-week, co-taught, generative workshop in which we will celebrate poems we adore by indispensable poets and offer prompts intended to conjure the chutzpah, the moxie, and the unadulterated courage we need to face the times in which we're living. Four Thursdays at 5:30 PM (ET)