Do you hear voices in your poem? Do landscapes of the past rise up in your stanzas? Are the maps and legends from forgotten places limning the line breaks? If so, then you are in the country of docu-poetics, a creative space where artifacts of the past can fuel our poetry. In this webinar we’ll explore examples of contemporary poetry shaped by the urgencies to document the lost voices, landscapes, and events of a particular past. We’ll touch on issues of voice and verisimilitude as well as our responsibilities to our understanding of history and our complicity in it.

We’ll conclude with a brief generative exercise based on an artifact of your choosing, so please come prepared with an artifact that resonates for you with a particular recent or distant historical past. The artifact should be something that is publicly accessible not a personal memento or correspondence. Some example artifacts include:

• A newspaper account of an historical event.
• A published diary or memoir. 
• Posters, paintings, or photographs that document an historical event.  
• Memorial statuary, such as a war memorial. 
• Maps and architectural plans. 
• Legal documents like treaties, contracts, or certificates of birth/death/marriage.