Maybe you love poetry. Maybe you hate it. Maybe you write it. Maybe you don’t. Maybe poetry frightens you, just as it frightens so many of my novel-loving friends. Whoever you are, and however much experience you have with poetry, there’s a place for you here! (That is, as long as we haven’t maxed out on registrants yet.)
This 1.5-hour workshop will be a creative, generative, exploratory space. We will begin by reading and discussing a few poems that model the week’s topic. Topics might include, for instance, praise poems, elegies, ghazals, memory poems, or ars poeticas. Then, we’ll respond to a prompt to write our own poems. After that, there will be an opportunity for sharing work.
Note: This workshop is currently designed to be a generative space. It is not a space to bring existing work, but rather a space optimized for creating new work. This allows both those who do and do not already write poetry to participate. However, if you’re seeking a community with which to share your existing work, let me know—maybe we can set something up!
Holly Branco is the author of twenty published poems. In May of 2025, she graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in English (creative writing concentration) and philosophy. She spent her junior year studying abroad at the University of Oxford through Mansfield College’s full-year Visiting Student Programme. As an editor at The Stylus of Boston College, Holly organized and moderated the 142-year-old literary magazine’s first-ever literary retreat. She has served as a Philosophy Teaching Assistant at Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Researcher at the Oxford Future Impact Group, and Content Writer at Magnetic Magazine. Her nonfiction publication credits include celebrity interviews, news articles, concert reviews, and an astronomy journal article. Holly currently lives in Long Valley, New Jersey, where she leads writing workshops, tutors college applicants, freelances in photography and design, assists in managing The Maple Shop, and supports the New Jersey Shade Tree Federation.
