The Course

The Size of the World: Redwood, Rock, and Spore

As poets, sometimes it’s overwhelming to know where to begin. In this workshop, we’ll start with the lens of scale. Depending on how you look at it, the page itself can seem immense or small. Our subject matter can be a pebble, or an entire landscape. A story that unfolds in the world of an ant, or that crosses generations of elephants. We will practice using the lens of proportion and scale to write our poems, describing the most minute details, and then arcing out into immensity. My hope is that you ––and all of us!––will write things that will change the way we see. Seeing deeply is one way we can love the world, even when that looking reveals what is unlovely or difficult. We will find beauty in the broken and the wholeness of the whole. 

There will be in-class writing prompts, as well as writing suggestions to take home after class. Bring a pen, bring your curiosity, and prepare to attune your senses to wonder. All levels are welcome.

The Duration: This class meets over six consecutive Wednesdays from 5-8 pm ET (2-5 pm PT) February 21-March 27, 2024.

Application window: November 1-15, 2023

The Instructor

Danusha Laméris, a poet and essayist, was raised in Northern California, born to a Dutch father and Barbadian mother. Her first book, The Moons of August, was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Book Award. Some of her work has been published in: The Best American Poetry, The New York Times, Orion, The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and Prairie Schooner. Her second book, Bonfire Opera, was a finalist for the 2021 Paterson Poetry Award and recipient of the Northern California Book Award in Poetry. She was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California, and is currently on the faculty of Pacific University’s low residency MFA program. Her third book, Blade by Blade, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press.