Night Consciousness in Poetry
About this Event
NIGHT CONSCIOUSNESS IN POETRY
A workshop with Garth Martens in Victoria, BC
Description:
How does a poem make the astonishing leap? Duende. Dream logic. Shadow substance. We'll explore these through discussion, close reading of published poems or essays, and in-class writing exercises. At minimum, night consciousness allows a deepening of the lyric moment and escape from the rational mind. At maximum? Something dangerous enters from within the gaps.
We will talk, briefly, of the ghazal, a form the poet John Thompson says is like “discovering an alien design, illogical and without sense — a chart of the disorderly, against false reason and the tacking together of poor narratives. It is the poem of contrasts, dreams, astonishing leaps... ‘drunken and amatory’.”
Poets whose work we may look at include Tomas Transtromer, César Vallejo, Vasko Popa, Octavio Paz, Jan Zwicky, Dionne Brand, Robert Bly, Ali Blythe, Louise Gluck, John Newlove, Anne-Marie Turza, Canisia Lubrin, Melanie Siebert, Ibrahim Nasrallah, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Natalie Diaz, Charles Wright, Antonio Machado, Louise Erdritch, Jack Gilbert, Franz Wright, Xi Chuan, Robert Hass, Eavan Boland, Alice Oswald, Sylvia Legris, Louise Halfe, Robert Bringhurst, and others.
Cost: $100
Venue: The workshop will be held at the Intrepid Theatre Hub, next door to Intrepid Theatre at #2A - 1609 Blanshard St, with a separate entrance.
REGISTRATION:
Email Garth Martens at [email protected]
Subject line: 2026 Poetry Workshop.
Include your name in the body of the email.
Send an e-transfer for $100.
Your e-transfer will hold your place.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 0.00
