A Draught of Vintage: Poetry Happy Hour

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

         Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of Flora and the country green,

         Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!

O for a beaker full of the warm South,

         Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

                With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

                        And purple-stained mouth;

         That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

                And with thee fade away into the forest dim …

—John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale"

In the spirit of John Keats, in this weekly Friday night drop-in class we'll attempt to drink from the cup of poetry and "leave the world unseen," slipping into another realm as we reflect on the week behind us and look forward to the weekend ahead. Reading poems about intoxication and dissolution (of various kinds) and the heart ache behind them, we'll think and write about the desire to fly away from what Keats called the "weariness, the fever, and the fret" while still being pulled back by the gravity of memory. We'll explore what it means to be happy and whether that always harbors an unhappiness inside. Literal cups of wine will be available (upon donation) to help us with our transport. Sharing will be encouraged but optional. (Note that drop-in classes are not a forum for critique of work; students looking for critique should register for multi-week workshops.)

Host or Publisher Brooklyn Poets