This class will discuss the art of poetic apostrophe and the idea of form as form, through the writing of love songs, odes, and your own inventions. We’ll look at how writerly intention meets or subverts textual convention in order to speak more deeply to our audiences, how we might expand upon shared and personal traditions to create new modes, and how to speak to big ideas through the veneration of small moments. Participants will also be given a series of writing prompts toward generating new poems and putting one’s heart on the page. ❤️🎶

Kenzie Allen is a Haudenosaunee poet and multimodal artist, and author of Cloud Missives (Tin House, 2024). She is a recipient of the James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets, a 92NY Discovery Prize, the 49th Parallel Award in Poetry, and fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Aspen Summer Words, and Indigenous Nations Poets (In-Na-Po). Kenzie’s work can be found in Poetry Magazine, Boston Review, Poets.org, The Paris Review’s Daily, The Rumpus, Best New Poets, and other venues. Born in West Texas, she is currently an Assistant Professor at York University in Toronto, where she teaches Creative Writing and Indigenous Literatures. She is a direct descendant of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.