Nature Poetry [In-Person, Durham, NC]

Full Tuition: $300 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.

Instructor: Spratley | Mondays | September 11-October 16 | 6:00 - 8:00 | IN-PERSON —Various outdoor locations near downtown Durham

How do we experience nature within a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy? How do we challenge a colonial lens as we represent the environment in our work? As Camille Dungy writes in "The Blue," "One will live to see the Caterpillar rut everything / they walk on," so that "the whole habitat / along this coastal stretch endangered, everything, / everyone, everywhere in it danger as well--"

In this class, students will explore their own connection with and disconnection from nature. We will deepen our perception of natural phenomena through guided meditation, and will use this practice as a springboard for generative prompts, creating our own poetry that considers and engages with the natural world. We will practice approaches to nature poetry grounded in various cultural literary traditions as we write and workshop environmental poetry. 

We will read and discuss work by Ross Gay, Jericho Brown, Mary Oliver, Hai-Dang Phan, Ada Limón, francine j. harris, Patrick Kavanaugh, Camille Dungy, Joy Harjo, and Tyree Daye. Students can expect to write and workshop one poem per week throughout this course.

This class will take place in person and outdoors at various locations in Durham, NC. Classes will meet within a few miles of downtown Durham, and students will be provided with class locations in their welcome email one week prior to our first class.

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Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage, and your tuition goes toward supporting this practice. Please pick the payment tier that corresponds to your needs, and consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. We will never request or require proof of need, and do not use an income-based sliding scale; we trust you to decide what payment tier is right for you. If you would like additional support deciding or would like to learn more about the practice of using a sliding scale, we recommend this resource from Embracing Equity. 

We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class, and one full scholarship per person per term. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.

If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After that point, we are able to offer 50% refunds.