Poetry and Photography with T. Cole Rachel
Poetry and Photography
Instructor: T. Cole Rachel
March 9 – April 13, 2016
Wednesdays 7 – 10 pm (6 sessions)
Cost $300 ($270 Baxter St at CCNY members)
The maximum number of students in this class is 10.
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.
Past Classes taught by T. Cole Rachael
October 21st – December 16th 2015
Wednesdays 7 – 10pm (8 sessions)
April 22 – May 20 2015
Wednesdays 7-10pm (5 sessions)
February 11 – March 11 2015
Wednesdays 7-10pm (5 sessions)
October 28 – November 25 2014
Tuesdays 7-10pm (5 sessions)
Registration by email or phone at 212–260–9927