Across Generations, Democratic Vistas: Poetry Workshop

IN-PERSON WORKSHOP

As part of her state-wide poetry project, Across Generations: Democratic Vistas, NY State Poet Laureate, Patricia Spears Jones, will lead a generative poetry workshop inspired by Walt Whitman and Martin Luther King Jr. The workshop will investigate the vocabulary used by generations of our nation's greatest authors in order to inspire serious conversations about social justice, environmental degradation, systemic oppression, cultural resistance, what beauty means, and how that meaning changes over time. Participants can expect to walk away with new writing drafted and a renewed faith in poetry's ability to shape our democracy.

Format: 1.5-hour sessions include discussion, prompts, and writing exercises.

WORKSHOP FACILATATOR

Patricia Spears Jones is one of 22 poets laureate of states, counties, and cities across the nation selected by the Academy of American Poets to lead public programs in their respective communities, which, in the words of Academy President and Executive Director Ricardo Maldonado, “elevate civil discourse and remind us of the true possibility of a shared future.” With her workshops/readings project, Jones aims to foster a greater connection between and among generations and inspire “the kinds of conversations that permit serious discussion of social justice, environmental degradation, systemic oppression, and cultural resistance, and what beauty means and how that meaning changes over time.” Jones is a poet, playwright, educator, and cultural activist. Winner of the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, she is author of A Lucent Fire New and Selected Poems and three full-length collections and five chapbooks. Her most recent book The Beloved Community was released in 2023. Jones's archives are housed in the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books division at Schomburg Center. In addition to her published poems, essays, memoir, and interviews, she has curated programs at The Poetry Project of St. Marks Church. Jones is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College.

Read more from Patricia Spears Jones on the inspiration for this project.