The Unsaid: Absence as Form

Poetry Workshop with Stacey Balkun

This workshop explores absence in poetry, from ellipsis to erasure. Experiment with writing poems using white space and implication to create meaning out of mystery. All adult writers welcome.

As an instrument must have a resonating chamber in order to sing, a poem too depends on empty space. We'll discover how, in poetry, the absence of one element can amplify the meaning of another.

Explore absence in poetry, from ellipsis to erasure. Draft poems using implication and white space to indicate emotion and meaning. Turning to poets like Sappho—an accidental master of the unsaid—we will explore ways absence is much more than a lack. By allowing ourselves to suspend familiarity in favor of gesture, we will open up resonating chambers, allowing our poems to sing through what’s missing, making our poems whole.

Adult writers of all levels welcome. 

Workshop leader Stacey Balkun is the author of Sweetbitter (Sundress 2021) & co-editor of Fiolet & Wing: An Anthology of Domestic Fabulist Poetry. Winner of the 2019 New South Writing Contest as well as Terrain.org’s 10th Annual Contest, her work has appeared in Best New Poets 2018, Crab Orchard Review, The Rumpus, and several other anthologies and journals. Stacey holds an MFA from Fresno State and teaches creative writing online at The Poetry Barn & The Loft. Visit her online at http://www.staceybalkun.com.

Sponsored by the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library.

Upcoming Events