Hived Like Honey in Your Head: The Art and Craft of Writing Confessional Poetry

I am no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind’s hand. 

—Sylvia Plath, Morning Song

Confessional poetry is both searing and intimate, a poetic style that is a direct expression of one’s thoughts and feelings. The “Confessional Poets” of the 1950’s through the 1970’s, who include Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, Sharon Olds and many others, were some of the first poets to mine “the hive” of the mind, to explore, often brutally, the truth of human existence. Today, confessional poetry is experiencing a comeback, with poets such as Diane Seuss, Kaveh Akbar, Rupi Kaur, and Nayyirah Waheed revitalizing its style of frankness and openness. Confessional poetry can be a form of poetry as personal catharsis, often moving the reader with its vulnerability.

Confessional poetry can be “confessional” in the traditional sense, with the poet exploring the complexities of their own experience, but it can also be abstract, exploring universal themes of intimacy and identity. Regardless, confessional poetry is always defined by its honesty and emotive qualities.

Through writing prompts, reading, and kind feedback, we will work together to generate poetry that explores our truths, and learn poetic techniques such as anaphora, epistrophe, persona poems, poetic juxtaposition, and a fresh approach to imagery for discovering our authentic voices.

Who this course is for:

Poets at any stage of their writing—beginner, intermediate or advanced—looking to deepen the scope of their writing practice and for a safe, inclusive community to explore the power of vulnerability in their poetry.

Learning and Writing Goals

Learning Goals

In this course, you will: 

• Acquire a fresh set of prompts and ideas to inspire your craft.
• Get comfortable trying new things while expressing yourself in poetry in a supportive and safe environment.
• Establish a regular writing schedule to keep generating and exploring new work.
• Expand tried and true methods and branch out into exploring new ways to tell your truths.
• Develop a fresh practice to look deeper into the self for inspiration.
• Receive advice as to journals to send your work out into the world.

Writing Goals

In this course, you will: 

• Write 5-15 new poems (1-3 per week)

Zoom Schedule

We will meet on Zoom on Wednesdays from 7-9 PM Eastern. 

Weekly Syllabus

Week One: Confessing

Readings: Sharon Olds’ “I Go Back to May 1937”  and Anne Sexton’s “For Eleanor Boylan Talking with God”

Freewriting: What would you like to confess if you could with impunity?

Assignment: Write a poem where you confess—it could be to a thought, to a wish, to a dream, etc. Start with the line—”It’s time I told you”….where the you can be yourself, the reader, a loved one, etc.

Homework: Finish poem for next week’s class

Week Two: Self-Portraits

We will look at exploring our relationship to ourselves, focusing on imagery, learning new ways to look at ourselves within and without.

Readings: Chen Chen’s poem, ”Self Portrait as So Much Potential”, “Self-Portrait as Anne Sexton’s Typewriter” by Hilary King.

Freewriting: Who am I—use 5 senses—what images define you?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: What is an object in your current life or past you identify with? Write a poem projecting yourself as that object. Title it, “Self-Portrait as ….”

Homework: What is something you have struggled to love about yourself? Write a poem celebrating it as a Self Portrait Poem, 14-25 lines in length and reading student work.

Week Three: Persona Poems

We will explore anaphora and epistrophe as a way to create structure in our poems.

Readings: Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones.”  Margaret Atwood, “Pigsong”, Patricia Smith, “Katrina”

Freewriting: Consider people in your life who have loomed large—begin with—I thought you were…—this does not need to be shared

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Craft Lesson: Anaphora and Epistrophe

Assignment: Choose a character from history—a former president, a famous actor, a queen, an inventor—write a poem making their confessions. Use the line—I have something to tell you.

Homework: Write a poem using someone you have known as the persona—use anaphora and epistrophe 3-5 times.

Week Four: Autobiography

We will be focusing on elements of our own autobiography and how to weave them into poems. Readings: Diane Seuss, “A Sonnet” and Kaveh Akhbar’s, “Forfeiting My Mystique”

Freewriting: Remember a day in your life as a child. Try to write down as many details as you can—use all your senses, the mundane and the memorable.

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: First—make two lists—one of mundane elements of your life, one of things that have shaped you. Weave them together. Use the following as anaphora 3-5 times : Once I…..but now…..

Homework: Finish the poem from class—or rework– 20-30 line poem. Student work reading.

Week Five: List Poems

We will be looking at our childhood memories and new ways of telling them, trying out a list poem.

Reading: Danez Smith’s, “Alternate Names for Black Boys”.

Freewriting: Childhood. Grandmother. Dinner time. School bus. Winter. Summer. What are some memories/images/songs/ that come up?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: Write a poem that begins with a color and zooms in on one particular memory—all the senses. Use anaphora to give it shape.

Homework: Write a 14 line list poem based on a memory of family—how can where you end each line create tension/drama/convey the emotions you felt during the experience?

Week Six: Celebration and Grief

We will be looking at ways to celebrate and grieve experiences in our lives (sickness, loss, growth, milestones) through our poetry.

Readings: “Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath and “The Wild iris” by Louise Gluck.

Freewriting: What do we learn from joy? What do we learn from grief? What more do you want to learn?

Share and give feedback on homework poems.

Assignment: Write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something stunningly beautiful. Then write a 14 line poem about the last time you saw something terribly sad. Can you weave these poems together?

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