This 4-month generative poetry class will focus on writing new material for those working toward a poetry collection, a lyric/experimental film, or a poetic one person show. 

The class starts on February 5, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until May 28, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

I like to approach generating poetry by considering what the well each one of us holds is: what is our unique bundle, life path, emotional truth– what are the things only we can say? In crafting writing, I find that I hold dear many spiritual teachings from Sufism, the idea that our path to the divine is made possible by being honest to our true voice, by stripping away the layers that we put around ourselves that distance us from our heart’s knowing. My belief is, so often we need to know what we want to write and how to do it– so often, we need to get out of our own way in order to do that. This class will focus on both craft and technicality of writing, while also honoring the spirit and the mystic—the parts of creation that lay beyond the realms of understanding. Through this class we will dive into ideas of lyric memory and lyric truth—knowing that we live in a world where there are many seemingly competing truths, how do we get clear in our own knowing and our own telling of our lives, of our people, of the world around us? In this class, participants will be encouraged to find their current pulse point: what sparks their aliveness in this moment? What is keeping them up at night with wonder? What is moving them to the page? From there, we’ll be examining poetry, lyrical films, and poetic performances to help inspire us to generate new material, to push us forward from a craft perspective while also honoring the emotional pull of the piece. 

In our class, we will have the opportunity to share the work that we are writing to practice vulnerability, and to create a writing community that includes feedback and care. 

We’ll start the semester with our intentions, creating individual plans per student—are you working towards a manuscript, are you wanting to start writing again without a project in mind, how many poems per week are you trying to write? Midway through the class we’ll assess again—what themes do you notice are coming up in your work? What is the well within you? What surprises you? What do you notice about the project that you’ve embarked on? At the end, we’ll do a final assessment of the project and work that has been generated over the course of the class. 

Through our class, we’ll examine poetry across multiple forms and styles—you’ll be pushed to write lyric, narrative, experimental, and form-expanding pieces. 

We also will discuss the industry of publication, what it means to be a working writer, and pathways that are both traditional and non-traditional in a career as a poet. 

You can read testimonials from previous students here. If you’re interested in a critique-based workshop, there’s more about the fall term here; if you’re interested in both, you can learn more here.

In addition to the spring 4-month generative poetry class, this includes the fall 4-month poetry workshop, during which we’ll focus on working together to shape and revise your writing.

The spring semester starts on February 5, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until May 28, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET. The fall semester starts on August 27, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until December 17, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

If you sign up for the full year of classes by January 31, 2026, an automatic 10% discount is applied.

Please note: if you’re interested in the full year, wonderful! The fall semester, which includes the workshop portion of the class, is application-based on a rolling basis. Before signing up for the full year, please send a 10-page writing sample and a paragraph describing what you hope to get out of the workshop to Trip Whitfield, trip dot whitfield at gmail dot com. We’ll get back to you soon with next steps.

You can read testimonials from previous students here.

This 4-month poetry workshop will focus on a particular poetry project and manuscript that you are working on, to push it to a poetry draft that you feel good about. This is similar to a thesis-level class at a MFA workshop. 

The class starts on August 27, 2026, Thursday, and will meet every other week until December 17, 2026, Thursday from 4-6:30pm PT / 7-9:30pm ET.

Please note: This class is application-based on a rolling basis. Before signing up for the fall term, please send a 10-page writing sample and a paragraph describing what you hope to get out of the workshop to Trip Whitfield, trip dot whitfield at gmail dot com. We’ll get back to you soon with next steps.

In the fall workshop, we will focus on a careful analysis and discussion of manuscripts that each participant is working on. We will get to know each other’s projects, each other’s goals, and dive deep in each manuscript to really bring out the unique voice and truths that each project holds. We also will be reading and looking at poetry books, films and solo-shows in the world, in order to help us expand and examine ideas of craft, structure, form, and play. Using both participants' manuscripts and existing work in the world, this class will push each participant towards getting closer to their unique voices, developing a manuscript that each participant can be proud of, pushing it to the next step. 

Our feedback sessions will be focused on discussing the truth that we see in the manuscript, the voice that’s coming through in the manuscript, and the idea of what this manuscript is specifically offering that is unique. From there, our feedback will be based on how to get this manuscript closer to the vision of itself that it is articulating and centering the writer—moving beyond ideas of what one ‘should’ do, or our reactions or individual taste. I view workshop and feedback as a sacred container, a gift we bring to each other by engaging thoroughly in each other's work, and that will be upheld throughout the semester. 

Throughout the class, we also will discuss the industry of publication, what it means to be a working writer, and pathways that are both traditional and non-traditional in a career as a poet.

You can read testimonials from previous students here. If you’re interested in a generative class, there’s more about the spring term here; if you’re interested in both, you can learn more here.