Brooklyn Poets Craft Lab: “How Old Is This?": Writing with the Help of History

Register by October 28th to take advantage of our earlybird discount. Members take an additional $25 off at any time.

Contrast—using one thing to illuminate another—can be a helpful tool for composing a poem while stuck. The tension of past and present is an especially powerful one, as in witnessing an immediate situation the mood has already begun aging. Like the ground that holds us up, the immediate has a living underneath, and whatever you’re writing about has historical layers. Poets have long used etymology, for example, to trace the arc of meaning. In this craft lab, students will explore the wonder activated by a historical lens and the creative possibilities opened by found ancestry. We'll read poems textured with archives, texts, stories and ideas from the long ago. Students will also hear and discuss strategies for deep research. Together, we’ll approach ancient cultures with reverence, rather than dismissing their paradigms as uniformed, letting them impart wisdom to our current subjects.

All participants will have access to a cloud recording of the craft lab for one month afterward.

To request financial aid for this craft lab, please fill out the request form on our website by October 28th.

About the teacher

K. Iver was born in Mississippi. Their debut collection Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco won the 2022 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry from Milkweed Editions, selected by Tyehimba Jess. Short Film is a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Awards and has been named a Best Book of 2023 by the New York Public Library. Iver’s poems have appeared in Boston Review, Kenyon Review, LA Review of Books and elsewhere. Iver has received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Sewanee Writers Conference and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. They have a Ph.D. in poetry from Florida State University. They are the Roger F. Murray Chair in Creative Writing at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.

Closed captions for the event will be available via Zoom. To request additional accommodations or more information, please contact us at bkp@brooklynpoets.org. Note that by attending you agree to abide by our code of conduct below.

Brooklyn Poets Code of Conduct

Brooklyn Poets will not tolerate any instances of discrimination, harassment or abuse in conjunction with any of our programs. Respect and consideration for others, both within and outside our programs, are core values to be upheld by all participants. Discrimination against and/or harassment of community members on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status or any other factor is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Program participants are expected to adhere to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Should a board or staff member, independent contractor, volunteer or program participant be found to violate any aspect of the organization’s code of conduct, Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss them from the program. Consequences may include, but not be limited to, dismissal from the current activity, suspension, ineligibility for all future activities, and/or loss of payment or fees. If you have any issues to report, please do not hesitate to contact anyone on our Conduct Committee and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Interim Director r kay: kay@brooklynpoets.org
Board Director Emily Blair: emiblair@gmail.com
Board Director Miller Oberman: miller.oberman@gmail.com