Triggering Poetic Inspiration

This is a fully online class. There are no in-person meetings.

Where do poem ideas come from? Finding a way to sustain poetry writing beyond those first emotion-driven poems that we just have to write is often the challenge facing poets who have been writing for awhile. Using Richard Hugo’s The Triggering Town as inspiration, poets will come out of this class with eight new poems, as well as some new tools for generating inspiration and ideas.

Triggering Poetic Inspiration (8 weeks):

January 11-March 4, 2021— $280

Registration deadlines: January 5. Ten spots available, first-come, first served

email northbeachwriters@gmail.com to register

or for more information

In this class, we will be following along in The Triggering Town, by Richard Hugo. It is necessary that you have the book in order to take the class.

Topics covered in this 8-week course include:

• Chapter 1:  Writing off the Subject
• Chapter 2: The Triggering Town
• Chapter 3: Assumptions  
• Chapter 4: Teaching and Roethke
• Chapter 5: Nuts and Bolts
• Chapter 6: In Defense of Creative Writing Classes
•  Chapter 7: Statements of Faith
• Chapter 8: Ci Vediamo (We See)

What previous participants had to say:

Great writing prompts and discussion questions. Detailed feedback on poems from the teaching artist, who also did an excellent job of moderating online chats and was generous with her time (while still maintaining good boundaries). Participants were thoroughly engaged and also gave meaningful feedback on poems. LouAnn Muhm without a doubt provided the best experience I’ve had in a Loft class — and that’s saying a lot, because I’ve had a lot of great classes in-person and online.

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The participants were an exceptional group and interacted well. LouAnn Muhm is a wonderful teacher/poet whose suggestions, critiques and resources are very helpful and approachable. She is encouraging of our work and very respectful when “mucking about” in our poems. I really learned the value of critiquing poetry and this is changing the way I think about my own poetry.