“…when the world is dark, there is still light. Praise the light and let it show us the way forward together.” —Amanda Johnston
On Saturday, March 28, Amanda Johnston will teach “Poetic Praise.” In this in-person class, students of all skill levels will explore odes and other poetic forms of praise, create new works, and learn how to identify and celebrate the awe-inspiring everyday moments of life. Join us in honoring all the moments worthy of praise in our lives, whether small or large!
Amanda Johnston is a writer, visual artist, and the 61st Poet Laureate of Texas. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine. She is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter, and editor of Praisesong for the People: Poems from the Heart and Soul of Texas. Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, among them Callaloo, Poetry Magazine, The Moth Radio Hour, Bill Moyers, The Rumpus, and the anthologies Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. She has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Tasajillo, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Watermill Center, American Short Fiction, and the Academy of American Poets. She is a former Board President of Cave Canem Foundation and founder of Torch Literary Arts.
Here’s what Amanda had to share with us:
Who are your earliest influences? What people and books made you a writer?
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein and Lucille Clifton’s body of work, but especially her poem “won’t you celebrate with me.”
What writing challenges have you faced? What have these challenges taught you about your process?
The biggest challenge to my writing and creative practice is me. There is always a competing responsibility that I allow to push my work to the back burner. There is always a little voice in my head feeding my insecurities. Thankfully, the muse is louder. I listen to her and keep going.
From your perspective, what’s the most rewarding part about being a writer?
Being surprised by my own writing. Sitting down and gathering the notes, drafts, scraps of poems, and piecing them together through revision to get to an unknown piece. Discovering the turns and form, the language and sound of the poem while writing it is the most rewarding part.
Who do you write for?
I write for myself. I share and publish my writing in hopes that whoever might need it will find it.
What do you hope writers will learn from your course?
The power of praise and gratitude through poetry. That there is balance in all things and that when the world is dark, there is still light. Praise the light and let it show us the way forward together.
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Thanks, Amanda!
Click here to learn more about Amanda’s upcoming class.
