Politics and Poems: Writing Verse in DC
This course is a space for writing and discussing poems in the nation’s capitol. The
course title takes as inspiration the name of the renowned independent bookstore (Politics
and Prose) in Washington, but with a twist. Accordingly, most of the assigned texts will
be by DC area poets who will visit the class as special guests. This course is as much
about reading poems as writing (and revising) them. Students will attend at least one live
literary event to experience poetry as performance, as well as visit a museum or gallery to
use the visual or plastic arts as a springboard for their poetry. Finally, students will
acquire and hone the vocabulary necessary to offer constructive feedback on one
another’s work.
Instructor: Francisco Aragon
Course meets on Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 9:00 PM in room 314 at the UC
Washington Center
Required Texts
The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
(W.W. Norton & Company) by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
Calling Home: Praise Songs and Incantations (Bilingual Press) by Naomi Ayala
In the Company of Spirits (Press 53) by Carmen Calatayud
Grip (Gival Press) by Yvette Neisser Moreno
Speaking Wiri Wiri (Red Hen Press) by Dan Vera
Poets students will be reading and meeting over the course of the term
Naomi Ayala is the author of three books of poetry—Wild Animals on the Moon
(Curbstone Press), This Side of Early (Curbstone Imprint: Northwestern University
Press), and Calling Home: Praise Songs and Incantations (Bilingual Press). She is the
translator of Argentinean poet Luis Alberto Ambroggio’s book of poetry, The Wind’s
Archeology/La arqueología del viento (Vaso Roto Ediciones, Mexico), which won the
2013 International Latino Book Award for Best Nonfiction Book Translation. Some of
Naomi’s work in Spanish appears in Al pie de la Casa Blanca: Poetas hispanos de
Washington, DC (North American Academy of the Spanish Language). Naomi has won
several awards; among these are Artists Fellowships from the DC Commission on the
Arts and Humanities, Special Recognition for Community Service from the U.S.
Congress, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy of Environmental Justice Award.
Carmen Calatayud's book In the Company of Spirits was a runner-up for the Walt
Whitman Award, given by the Academy of American Poets. Her poetry has appeared in
journals and anthologies, including DC Poets Against the War: An Anthology. She’s a
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellow and a Larry Neal Poetry Award winner.
Carmen is a poet moderator for Poets Responding to SB 1070, a Facebook group that
features poetry and news about Arizona’s immigration law that legalizes racial profiling.
Born to a Spanish father and Irish mother in the U.S., Carmen lives in the Washington,
DC area.
Yvette Neisser Moreno is the author of Grip, winner of the 2011 Gival Press Poetry
Award. Her translations from Spanish include South Pole/Polo Sur by María Teresa
Ogliastri and Difficult Beauty: Selected Poems by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Her poems,
translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in such publications as Foreign Policy in
Focus, Virginia Quarterly Review, and the Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary
Jewish American Poetry. Moreno is co-director of the DC-Area Literary Translators
Network (DC-ALT), an organizer with Split This Rock, and an instructor at The Writer’s
Center. She lives in Silver Spring, MD.
Dan Vera is a writer, editor, and literary historian in Washington, DC. The author of
Speaking Wiri Wiri (inaugural winner of the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize) and
The Space Between Our Danger and Delight, his work appears in various journals,
including Beltway Poetry, Notre Dame Review, Foreign Policy in Focus, and Delaware
Poetry Review, and anthologies like Queer South, Divining Divas, and Full Moon On K
Street. Named a 2014 Top Ten “New” Latino Author to Watch (and Read), he co-curates
the literary history site, DC Writers’ Homes, and chairs the board of Split This Rock
Poetry. For more visit http://www.danvera.com
Course Requirements
1) Write and submit 10 poems, as indicated on the class schedule.
2) Revise each of these 10 poems and submit them, as indicated on the class
schedule.
3) Submit a final portfolio of between 8-10 poems that has been deliberately
ordered, including final revisions. (One of the poems must be an ekphrastic poem.)
4) Contribute regularly to the class blog
5) Attend one live poetry event in Washington, D.C. and write a 1 – 2 page reflection
paper on the experience, to be included in your final portfolio.
6) Visit a museum or gallery in Washington, D.C. to write your one ekphrastic poem
and write a 1 – 2 page reflection paper on the experience, to be included in your
final portfolio.
7) Select one poem from the four single-author volumes we will be reading this
semester and recite the poem to the class, from memory, at a time to be determined.
8) Take part in the final class reading, in which you will read from your final
portfolio.
Course Policies
1) Hand held devices, such as mobile phones must be off during class.
2) All writing assignments must be word processed
3) All writing assignments are to be turned in, in person, on the day they are due,
unless you’ve made prior arrangements with me.
4) Any assignment turned in late will automatically have points taken away, unless
you’ve spoken to me beforehand about a particular circumstance.
5) Behavior and speech that disrupts the collegial learning environment goes
against the atmosphere we want to create in the workshop, and will be noted and
considered when calculating your participation grade.
Class Participation
Factors that will be taken into consideration when evaluating class participation (in
addition to attendance and punctuality) are: frequency and quality of your
contributions when we are discussing the class readings (the four single-author
volumes of poetry) both in class discussion and on the class blog; the frequency and
thoughtfulness of the verbal feedback you offer your classmates when we are
“workshopping” poems; successfully reciting from memory the poem you have
chosen to share with the class.
Attendance & Punctuality
Our aim is to create a space for engaged learning. Key to this goal is mutual respect
for one another and our time—valuable time we spend preparing for class. Not
coming to class, or arriving to class late…works against this goal. So, unless you have
a documented valid excuse, more than one unexcused absence and/or more than
one instance of arriving to class late will be noted and impact your final grade.
Academic Code of Honor
The poems you submit to the workshop must be written by you and you alone.
Course evaluation break down
Final Portfolio
10 poems
10 revisions
Class Participation
40%
20%
20%
20%
Class Schedule (this schedule is will be amplified and added to)
January 8, 2015
Introductions
“My Father As A Guitar” by Martín Espada
a close reading / introduction of some terms
Free Writing
January 15, 2015
Calling Home by Naomi Ayala (p. 1 - 21)
poem #1 due
January 22, 2015
Calling Home by Naomi Ayala (p.25 - 51)
instructor returns poem # 1
poem # 2 due
January 29, 2015
Calling Home by Naomi Ayala (p.55 - 76)
instructor returns poem #2
revision of poem #1 due
poem # 3 due
Special guest: Naomi Ayala
February 5, 2015
Grip by Yvette Neisser Moreno (p. 3 – 31)
instructor returns poem #3
instructor returns revision of poem #1
revision of poem # 2 due
poem # 4 due
February 12, 2015
Grip by Yvette Neisser Moreno (p. 35 – 51)
instructor returns poem #4
instructor returns revision of poem #2
revision of poem #3 due
poem # 5 due
February 19, 2015
Grip by Yvette Neisser Moreno (p. 55 – 80)
instructor returns poem #5
instructor returns revision of poem #3
revision of poem #4 due
poem # 6 due
Special Guest: Yvette Neisser Moreno
February 26, 2015
Speaking Wiri Wiri by Dan Vera (p. 11 – 34)
instructor returns poem #6
instructor returns revision of poem #4
revision of poem #5 due
poem # 7 due
March 5, 2015
Speaking Wiri Wiri by Dan Vera (p. 37- 50)
instructor returns poem #7
instructor returns revision of poem #5
revision of poem # 6 due
poem # 8 due
March 12, 2015
Speaking Wiri Wiri by Dan Vera (p. 53-78)
instructor returns poem #8
instructor returns revision of #6
revision of poem #7 due
poem # 9 due
Special Guest: Dan Vera
March 19, 2015
In the Company of Spirits by Carmen Calatayud (p. 3 – 16)
instructor returns poem #9
instructor returns revision of poem #7
revision of poem #8 due
poem #10 is due
April 2, 2015
In the Company of Spirits by Carmen Calatayud (p. 19 – 41)
instructor returns poem #10
instructor returns revision of poem #8
revision of poem #9 due
April 9, 2015
In the Company of Spirits by Carmen Calatayud (p. 45 – 63)
instructor returns revision of poem #9
revision of poem #10 due
Special Guest: Carmen Calatayud
April 16, 2015
Conclusions/Class reading
final portfolio due (8-10 poems + 2 prose reflections)