TUESDAYS, 8:30-10:30 P.M. ET/5:30-7:30 P.M. PT 
DEC. 10, 2019 – JAN. 28, 2020

The etymology of indelible literally means “not able to be destroyed.” It is a word mindful of great pain and joy, that which separates us from our quotidian selves. Memory is a tool as powerful as it is troubling because it risks the same unreliable traits as any narrator, which is made more pronounced when the traumatized speaker arrives at the intersection of memory and proof.

How can literature investigate the perils of the survivor’s journey, from incident to epiphany to the cyclical? In this course, we will pursue the question of whether poetry can reconstruct our humanity in the aftermath of crisis. We will consider the poetics of continuation and evidence through book-length and individual poems from the likes of Tory Dent, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Solmaz Sharif, francine a. harris, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, Aria Aber, and Tiana Clark, and grant ourselves the permission to write our own indelible pasts in original work.

This class will meet over our video chat platform. You will need to use Google Chrome to join your class meetings.