UA Poetry in January

Virtual Kids Create: Ekphrastic Poetry / beginning January 18 / Virtual Kids Create, an online version of our formerly in-person day for children aged infant-12 and their favorite adults, will continue in Spring 2022! These self-guided events will include poetry lesson plans for children in various age groups, helping them stay connected to poetry in our virtual space. View past Virtual Kids Create events on the Poetry Center blog.

Tucson Dream-History Tour with Mathias Svalina / January 20, 21, and 23 at 5:00 PM (check our calendar for locations) / Over a series of three free guided walks, The Tucson Dream-History Tour relates city histories that never happened. Led by poet Mathias Svalina, expect each tour to last approximately one hour; each is a unique experience. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring an extra layer for a January evening.
January 20 (departing from the Poetry Center)
January 21 (departing from MOCA)
January 23 (Departing from the Presidio Historical Marker)

Free Time: Building Community for Incarcerated Writers / January 29, 11:00 AM / All prospective mentors must email heyjoewatson@arizona.edu prior to their first workshop to receive instructions on how to join and learn more about class format.

On the Other Hand: Poets and the Practice of Drawing / January 11 to March 26 / Thoreau wrote, “The art of life, of a poet’s life, is, not having anything to do, to do something.” This might mean at times turning the line away from letters and toward images, as each of the poets represented in On the Other Hand have done. These seven artists—through drawings, sketches, scores, doodles, cartoons, contours, calligrams, and other mark-making—give shape to visions and concerns in ways that show the brilliance of the creative spirit finding its forms.

Works by Sommer Browning, Renee Gladman, Tim Johnson, Kit Schluter, Brandon Shimoda, giovanni singleton, and Lynn Xu, curated by Joshua Edwards
General registration for Spring 2022 Classes & Workshops will begin January 18 at 10:00 AM. Learn more.

Professional Development: Teaching Embodiment through Zine Making

The University of Arizona Poetry Center is pleased to offer Teaching Embodiment through Zine Making, a workshop with Chava Shapiro. Zines are a way to democratize who shapes narrative. Putting the tools of zine-making into the hands of students and youth allows for stories to be told by those who are living them. While the expansion of social media has given voice to youth and marginalized communities, it has also served to disconnect us from process or the body at times. This virtual, Zoom-based workshop for classroom teachers and community educators will focus on how to implement zine-making into the classroom in a way that offers students a connection to body and process. Building off of over two decades of zine-making experience, Chava Shapiro will share how to incorporate somatic skills like resilience, grounding, and noticing into zine-making as a personal storytelling device.

Poetry Out Loud: Meet Teré Fowler-Chapman

With Poetry Out Loud just around the corner, we’re excited to introduce you to some of the people who make this program run! Today, get to know Teré Fowler-Chapman, the Southern Region Coordinator for Arizona Poetry Out Loud.

“What do you enjoy most about Poetry Out Loud?

I enjoy the stories on why the students chose the poems they did (or maybe the poems chose the students, it’s an indescribable magic the way it happens). Then to hear the poem come back to life through their body and spirit is just magical.”