Join The Poetry Society of New York for a limited-capacity, six-week poetry workshop.

Workshop Overview:

Join us for "No More Apologies for a Bleeding Heart: Writing Vulnerability," a transformative writing workshop inspired by Toni Morrison's powerful words: “No more apologies for a bleeding heart when the opposite is no heart at all.” This workshop invites writers to embrace their emotions, enhancing their storytelling through both narrative and experimental poetics.

In a world where 'crybabies' are mocked and romantics are often dismissed, our workshop celebrates the strength in reclaiming our emotions as a means of connection and shared humanity. Each week, we'll delve into themes like radical love, futurism, and kinship, exploring a variety of source poems and prompts to inspire your own reflective creations.

Throughout the course, we'll read and discuss works by authors such as José Olivarez, Aracelis Girmay, Eve L. Ewing, Danez Smith, and Joy Harjo. Together, we'll strive to write poems that are bold, lyrical, and emotional, while practicing communal care through collaborative workshopping and feedback.

Syllabus Breakdown:

Over six weeks, we will explore various themes and writings. Week 1 focuses on self-reflection with readings from José Olivarez and others. Week 2 dives into valuing everyday moments with poems by Eve L. Ewing and Kwoya Fagin Maples. Week 3 explores love language, experimenting with radical care and interconnectedness through works by Kinsale Drake and José Olivarez. Week 4 treats the page as a playground for experimental poetry, featuring Emily Lee Luan and Danez Smith. Week 5 looks at futurisms, envisioning our writing beyond present-day challenges with Joy Harjo and Aracelis Girmay. Finally, Week 6 emphasizes kinship with each other and the land, with readings from Brandy Nālani McDougall and Layli Long Soldier.

Join us in this six-week journey of emotional exploration and poetic expression, where we embrace vulnerability as a powerful force in our writing. Let's write poems that are unafraid to be bold, lyrical, and deeply emotional, fostering a community of care and mutual support.

Dates and Time:

Location: Zoom

About the Instructor: Ayling Zulema Dominguez is a poet, mixed media artist, and arts educator with roots in Puebla, México (Nahua) and República Dominicana. Grounded in anticolonial poetics, their writing asks who we are at our most free, exploring the subversions and imaginings needed in order to arrive there. Ayling believes in poetry as dutiful liberation practice, writing against colonialism and toward new worlds of community care, ever-healing lineages, and land returns.