The turn—sometimes called the swerve, the twist, the pivot, or in a sonnet, the volta—is a significant shift in rhetorical and/or dramatic trajectory in a poem. It’s that moment of acceleration when the poem careens around a blind curve then lifts off the page, rocketing us into another dimension. It is, says poet-novelist Kim Addonizio, “the leap from one synapse to another, one thought to a further thought, one level of understanding or questioning to being in the presence of the mystery.“
In this self-paced workshop, you’ll explore the power of the turn with an emphasis on structure, rather than form or genre. You’ll study specific poetic structures—such as ironic, emblematic, and concessional—as a means to writing poems that do indeed turn, leap, and swerve, in short, poems that move/us. You’ll read example poems from Emily Dickinson to Terrance Hayes to Julie Sheehan to Wang Ping that utilize these and other poetic structures, then apply their strategies to your own work.
You’ll also read excerpts from Michael Theune’s book, Structure & Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns, Randall Jarrell’s essay, “Levels and Opposites: Structure in Poetry,” and Ellen Bryant Voigt’s book, The Flexible Lyric. Each week will include both generative and revision based writing prompts.
Crafted by
Winner of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Poetry Prize, the Joy Harjo Prize in Poetry, and the James Baker-Hall Memorial Poetry Prize
Kim Noriega is the author of the poetry collection, Name Me published by Fortunate Daughter Press. Her poems have appeared in textbooks, journals, and anthologies including: American Life in Poetry, Paris-Atlantic, Split Lip, and The Tishman Review. She was the winner of the San Miguel Literary Sala’s Flash Nonfiction Prize and a finalist for the Edna St. Vincent Millay Poetry Prize, the Joy Harjo Prize in Poetry, and the James Baker-Hall Memorial Poetry Prize. Kim was selected as one of thirty international poets to participate in the 2018 Visible Poetry Project. She won the Urban Library Council’s Innovator Prize and was one of eight finalists for the Toyota National Family Teacher of the Year Award. She heads San Diego Public Library’s award winning family literacy program.
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Write at your own rhythm • Start anytime
Access all prompts, exercises, and lessons instantly — work at your own pace, on your own schedule. Follow the suggested roadmap to make the most of your workshop, or chart your own path. Spark new poems, sharpen your craft, and grow your voice with guided exercises and techniques designed to empower and inspire your writing.
Poetic Turns and Structure & The Emblem Structure
The Elegiac & Epiphanic Structures
The Concessional Structure & The Mid-Course Turn
The Ironic & Retrospective-Prospective Structures