“The Camerawork of Poetry Revision” with Dr. Taylor Byas
April 19, 2025 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
$59.00 – $119.00
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This Event is for Members only.
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$59 for Members
$119 for Non-Members
PLEASE NOTE: This class recording is now only available for purchase by our Members from now until Monday, June 30 at 11:59 PM CDT. The class recording will be made available to watch (and rewatch) until July 31, 2025. Become a member here.
This class uses the language of photography to consider how we might revise first drafts. By considering the position of the “camera” in our scenes, we discover how we might unlock details about our poems that we couldn’t otherwise access.
In that way, prose poems can operate like small films. Prose poems don’t rely on the same conventions as lineated poetry to create surprise (rhyme, both internal and at the end of lines, surprising line breaks, how breath operates, etc.), and so creating surprise and strangeness in the prose poem can be about the “shots.” When are we panning away? When are we getting close-ups? When do the cuts need to be sharp or sudden? When does the camera linger?
These are the questions this workshop asks you to consider. Writers should come away from this workshop with a different understanding of the “first draft,” how it isn’t the first and worst version of a poem, but is actually an opportunity to discover what you cannot see yet and what the poem so desperately wants to be seen.
TAKE THIS CLASS IF:
- You want to better understand how revision can help you access different possibilities for a piece.
- You have poems or short pieces that feel stagnant and that you would like to revive.
- You want to find a way to possibly access the heart of an emotionally difficult piece.
The deadline to buy this class recording is Monday, June 30 at 11:59 PM CDT.
CONTINUING YOUR WRITING JOURNEY
SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION
The WLT is committed to making our online classes accessible to all writers including writers who do not have the financial means to pay for programming. Five (5) seats in this class have been set aside for scholarship recipients to attend free of charge. Please fill out this application no later than 2 days prior to the class to be considered for one of the scholarship seats. We do not ask for any corroborating documents; we only ask that you help us understand your situation. If you are selected for one of the available seats you will be notified via email (from wlt@writersleague.org) no later than 24 hours before the start of the class. Please note, each writer is limited to no more than four (4) total scholarship seats per catalog season.
Instructor
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Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. is a Black Chicago native currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is a Features Editor for The Rumpus, an Editorial Advisor for Jackleg Press, a member of the Beloit Poetry Journal Editorial Board, and a Poetry Editor-at-Large for Texas Review Press. Her debut full-length, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times from Soft Skull Press, won the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, the 2023 Chicago Review of Books Award in Poetry, and the 2024 Ohioana Book Award in Poetry. Her second full-length, Resting Bitch Face, is forthcoming in August 2025 and is a September pick for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club. She is also a coeditor of The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol X: Alabama, from Texas Review Press, and Poemhood: Our Black Revival, a YA anthology from HarperCollins.
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The Writers’ League of Texas is dedicated to providing harassment-free spaces for everyone, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, age, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Violating these rules may result in expulsion from WLT programs without a refund at the discretion of the WLT staff.
Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
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Reporting
If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible. Reports can also be made via email at wlt@writersleague.org. We’ll handle any and all reports as respectfully as possible. You won’t be asked to confront anyone, and we won’t tell anyone who you are.
Accessibility Policy
Closed captioning is available for all online classes and special events.
The WLT is committed to making its programs & services accessible to all writers. Please contact us at wlt@writersleague.org or at 512-499-8914 for more information or to discuss accommodations you may need.
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Writers’ League of Texas classes and workshops are also funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts – Investing in a Creative Texas. For more information, go to www.arts.texas.gov.