Poems for the Future — Myth and Spirit Make for Vision and Community

Join acclaimed New York City poet Patricia Spears Jones in a master class that explores the connection of myth and spirit in the creation of poems for and about the future. Whitman in his essay, “Democratic Vistas” charged poets with sustaining a credible and expansive democracy. But his road map and the myths he relied on no longer suffice.

We are now deeply engaged with critiques of the tumultuous present, and rightly so, but WHAT OF THE FUTURE? Spears Jones will engage participants in a necessary dialogue and critique of new poems generated by their concepts of the future –who we want to be, what kind of society, and how the culture will express these ideas. Vision is not easy. As Ferlinghetti said, “and I am waiting/for a new rebirth of wonder.” Participants will probe what that wonder is to them in this generative, thought-provoking workshop.