“the magic / the marvel / a new form: the moonbridge”
- Asiya Wadud, No Knowledge Is Complete Until It Passes Through My Body
In this two-week intensive, we will explore symbolism’s enduring power in contemporary creative writing. We will investigate how symbolism provides deeper spiritual meaning to our daily lives, and identify symbols of our own to write through in several generative exercises.
Our readings will draw from William Blake and include newer publications by authors such as Alfred Starr Hamilton, Friederike Mayröcker, and Asiya Wadud. We will place our symbolic writing in conversation with these texts, celebrating the transformations we enact on the page.
AM Ringwalt is a writer and musician whose work appears in Jacket2, Music & Literature, and Black Warrior Review. Ringwalt holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Notre Dame, where she received the 2019 Sparks Prize. The recipient of the Excellence Fellowship at UNC Greensboro, she is currently pursuing a PhD in English while teaching at the North Carolina Governor's School. What Floods and Strange Power! are out now as a joint release from Inside the Castle and Dear Life Records, with recognition from the Poetry Foundation.
"AM Ringwalt is a caring and attentive instructor, with a great eye for the type of poetry we want to write and we want to feel. It's a pleasure knowing her as a person and an even greater one studying with her as a teacher."
"AM Ringwalt really opened my eyes to the beauty of literature. The poem I wrote in her workshop really showed me how greatly I’m influenced by people and environment. I’m trying to learn how to write better and hearing AM quote some of my words really made me happy. Thanks for the encouraging words."
"I loved taking class with AM. She brought insight while at the same time acknowledged and valued the insights of classroom participants as equal to her own. The pacing of the class was great and it never dragged or rushes."