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“Is this tiny pond
The great big lake
in which I swam as a boy?”
—Haiku #559, Richard Wright
We don’t often think about the way climate change makes us feel. When a human being dies, we have rituals that help us process that loss. Why wouldn’t we need the same for grief on a planetary scale? What is leaving those emotions unprocessed doing to us? Why don’t we have funerals for bugs?
In this class, we will process emotions brought on by climate change (eco-grief) in writing. We will read poets, novelists, essayists, and other thinkers interested in ecology and grief: think Gary Snyder, Rachel Carson, Natasha Trethewey, Margaret Renkl, Victoria Chang, Forrest Gander, and Elizabeth Rush. We will use our writing to dedicate energy towards the things we have lost or will lose due to the changing climate. This class is great for anyone feeling paralyzed by climate news (or news in general) and is open to all genres.
• In-Class Writing Lift: Medium
• Homework: Optional
• Workshopping Drafts: Optional
Em Palughi is a queer poet from South Alabama. You can find her work in Gulf Coast, Black Warrior Review, Foglifter, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Alabama, Apricity Press, and elsewhere. She was the winner of the 2025 Plentitudes Poetry Prize and holds an MFA in Poetry from Vanderbilt University where she was awarded the 2024 Kathryn Sedberry Prize. She lives in Nashville with her fiancé and an oversized cat.
Em is new to The Porch. Welcome!
