Nature, Environment, and the Poem: Writing Poems in a Climate Crisis

In the 21st century, in the midst of what scientists term the sixth mass extinction, what does it mean to write nature poetry? How do we, as poets and people, engage with our role in the world around us? In this class, we’ll seek to examine and expand our definitions of “nature”. We’ll look at the ecosystems of the city, ecosystems of the body, and ecosystems of the mind. Through generative writing prompts and selected readings, we’ll explore poems that interact with the world around them in fundamentally new and exciting ways. At the frontier of the climate crisis lies some of the most innovative, expressive, and important writing today. We’ll tap into our own place-specific writing, through the freedom and play of collage poetry, poems presenting scientific facts, and the radical joy of an ode. Poets can expect to come away with a portfolio of workshopped poems, and the tools to take them further. 

Lillian Emerick Valentine is a poet and organic farmer from western Oregon. Her work has been nominated for Best New Poets 2023, AWP Intro Journal awards, and selected for the Environmental Humanities Reading Spring 2023. She has received a Fishtrap Fellowship, Hugo scholarship, and Kidd scholarship for her poetry. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Ecotone, Salamander, the Fjords Review, and other literary journals. She currently lives in Missoula, Montana where she is an MFA candidate and writing instructor at the University of Montana, as well as the poetry editor for Cutbank Magazine. An avid backpacker, cyclist, and runner, she spends as much time as possible outside.

Find out more: https://lilyemerick.wixsite.com/lillian-ev

Is the registration fee an obstacle for you to attend this workshop? Fishtrap offers a limited number of scholarships to help with the cost. Contact Program Director Mike Midlo for more information. [mike@fishtrap.org]