Out There: Strategies and Possibilities for Experimenting in Black Verse

Member Price: $65 / General Pubic - $75

Deadline to Register: October 16, 5 pm

Instructor: makalani bandele

In this workshop, we will survey the tradition of Black experimental verse and follow its lineage down to some present-day practitioners. We will learn and practice three specific moves employed by experimental African-American poets: making parts of speech interchangeable with another, clipping or altering puns, and obfuscating metaphor. By the end of the session, participants will have a better grasp of the inner workings of what is often thought to be difficult, experimental poetry and a clearer understanding of African-American poets’ contribution to the genre. Most importantly, they will gain new experimental poetic devices to deploy in their own work.

makalani bandele is an Affrilachian Poet and Cave Canem fellow. The recipient of fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council, Millay Colony, and Vermont Studio Center, his under the aegis of a winged mind was selected by Cornelius Eady for the 2019 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize. His first collection of poems, hellfightin’, was published by Willow Books in 2011. His work has been published in several anthologies and widely in print and online journals, including, among others, African-American Review, Killens Review of Arts and Letters, Sou’wester, Prairie Schooner, 32poems, and North American Review. A graduate of Shaw University with a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies, Bandele currently attends the University of Kentucky in pursuit of an MFA in Creative Writing.