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Counterfeiting: A Craft Seminar and Writing Laboratory
w/Kristi Maxwell and Michael Rerick

Mondays
February 20-April 16
(no class March 12)
6-8 p.m.
Cost: 8 weeks / $150

The idea behind this class is to productively (and mischievously) rethink the notion of imitation. Class members will study and try out various compositional strategies gleaned from the work of “master poets.” We will use Hugh Kenner’s The Counterfeiters to establish the guiding terms and foundational concepts for our class. Each participant will pick a “master poet” to work on counterfeiting; representative packets for each class member’s “master poet” will be submitted by participants during the first few weeks. Participants may select their own “master poet” or may consult with the instructors for help selecting one. For this class, the reading component is as important as the writing component—we will work on identifying primary and secondary compositional strategies for each “master poet” packet to help class members along with their writing process. Individually, participants are encouraged to read a larger body of their poet’s oeuvre, along with pieces about the poet and poet’s writing (to determine investments, contexts, and influences). Throughout the class, participants will complete a series of drafts “counterfeiting” their poet’s writing, finishing, ideally, with one counterfeit they would endorse as a recovered “original.” The final week of class will be used for presentations. Each participant will submit her counterfeit and a close reading establishing reasons why the counterfeit should be “recovered” and given a place in the “master poet’s” body of work. Ideally, participants will leave not only with an intimate understanding of another’s body of work, but also with a slew of new writing strategies and a bolstered sense of the value of play in poetry.

Teacher Bios

Kristi Maxwell is the author of Re- (Ahsahta Press, 2011), Hush Sessions (Saturnalia Books, 2009), and Realm Sixty-four (Ahsahta, 2008). She has been teaching since 2003 and holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature and a Graduate Certificate in Women's, Gender,
and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Arizona.

 

 

Michael Rerick is the author of In Ways Impossible to Fold (Marsh Hawk Press) and X-Ray (Flying Guillotine Press). He has taught several years for universities, colleges, and at the Poetry Center. Poems appear or are forthcoming in Coconut, Event, Greatcoat, Octopus Magazine, Psychic Meatloaf, and Slope.