This class is based on the idea of “Image” as transformative, not static; as palimpsest, not picture; as instantaneous and fleeting, yet indelible. But how do we make this kind of image in poetry? We will investigate what transformative imagery is and what it can do in a poem. We will read and discuss several poems that work with this kind of imagery while also playing with transformative imagery in our own writing. We will engage with several writing exercises to inspire and (hopefully!) surprise us.

Jennifer Elise Foerster is the author of three books of poetry, The Maybe Bird (The Song Cave 2022), Bright Raft in the Afterweather (University of Arizona Press 2018) and Leaving Tulsa (University of Arizona Press 2013), and served as the Associate Editor of When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (W.W. Norton 2020). She was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University, holds a PhD in Literary Arts from the University of Denver, and is an alumna of the Institute of American Indian Arts. She teaches with the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Rainier Writing Workshop and works in non-profit administration for various arts and literary organizations. Foerster grew up living internationally, is of European and Mvskoke descent, and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. She lives in San Francisco.