Class: Poetry and Photography with T. Cole Rachel

Poetry and Photography
Instructor: T. Cole Rachel

Tuesdays 7 – 10pm | Oct 11th – Nov 15th (6 sessions)
Cost: $300 ($270 CCNY members)
This class is limited to 10 students.

Photography and poetry have one important thing in common—the focus on specific images, images that aren’t necessarily tied to a plot (as in fiction and film). What makes both poems and photographs good is a strongly felt point of view. This course, taught by poet and feature writer/critic T. Cole Rachel, will encourage the writing of poems while using photographers’ existing images as a source to unlock potential subject matter and discuss point of view. Students will explore different poetic forms—sonnets, haikus, odes—in a series of written exercises based on photographic prompts. Each student will write at least 4 poems during the 5-week class, and they will be read and workshopped in class. For photographers who have had the impulse to write poems and didn’t know how to get started, or who have written in the past but have lost touch with the art form, the class will be a stimulation to write, and to engage with some important voices in contemporary poetry. The class will read the work of a variety of contemporary poets, including Albert Goldbarth, David Kirby, Sharon Olds, Billy Collins, Walt Whitman, Jorie Graham, Denise Levertov, Elizabeth Bishop and W.H. Auden.

T. Cole Rachel is a freelancer writer based in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in Interview, V, OUT, Numero, Purple, and The New York Times Magazine. His books include Surviving the Moment of Impact and Bend, Don’t Shatter. He is also a part-time bartender and collector of ceramic cats. His website is www.tcolerachel.com.

Registration by email or phone at 212–260–9927