Throughout history, muses have existed. These muses, whether deities or real people, would manifest creativity and innovation that reshaped the artist’s eye. In this three-hour, single-session workshop, we’ll pay close attention to how muses have evolved from the passive to the active, from women without equality to social and cultural icons. We’ll read poems by Patrick Rosal, Jean Valentine, John Murillo and others as we generate new writing using carefully curated prompts that will help to set our own muses free through radical imagination. Class will meet synchronously via Zoom.
Workshop Details
Yesenia Montilla is an Afro-Latina poet and a daughter of immigrants. She received her MFA from Drew University in poetry and poetry in translation. She is a CantoMundo graduate fellow and a 2020 NYFA fellow. Her work has been published in Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast and Best of American Poetry 2021 and 2022. Her first collection The Pink Box, published by Willow Books, was longlisted for a PEN Open Book award. Her second collection Muse Found in a Colonized Body, published by Four Way Books, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2023.