“If you can paint with a brush, you can paint with words,” a teacher told Joni Mitchell when she was in sixth grade. Just as language may be used in ways reminiscent of paint, it may also be observed as having musical and visual components as well. Open to all levels of experience, this poetry workshop considers how the arts influence and strengthen each other. How is writing a poem like composing a song, making a film, designing a garment or performing a monologue? We think about how poems get made and make them by harnessing various theories of art. We discuss student work in an atmosphere open to all forms of creativity. Student participation includes deciding on readings together from multiple creative disciplines, using all art forms as inspiration.

“If you can paint with a brush, you can paint with words,” a teacher told Joni Mitchell when she was in sixth grade. Just as language may be used in ways reminiscent of paint, it may also be observed as having musical and visual components as well. Open to all levels of experience, this poetry workshop considers how the arts influence and strengthen each other. How is writing a poem like composing a song, making a film, designing a garment or performing a monologue? We think about how poems get made and make them by harnessing various theories of art. We discuss student work in an atmosphere open to all forms of creativity. Student participation includes deciding on readings together from multiple creative disciplines, using all art forms as inspiration.