Welcome to this course, one of two we've produced on super-short poetry. Each course can be taken individually, in any order, but they complement each other so we highly recommend having a go at both. 

What is super-short poetry?

Wherever possible, we’ll be sticking to reading, interrogating, and writing poems under 10 lines long. A couple of 12-line poems may sneak their way in; you will have to forgive me, and them, for that.

How does it work? 

There are two courses on offer here, one on traditional super short form poetry, and one on visual and digital super short forms. Each course has eight ‘modules’ which focus on different forms and techniques to help you master the super short form, and include a mix of theory and creative exercises which you can complete as you go, or in your own time. 

How long will it take?

This is all for you to complete at your own pace, and you don’t have to ‘pass’ or ‘graduate’ to be part of it, and you certainly don’t need to complete the course in a set time.  If you’d like to set a pace of one module per week, it would take you 8 weeks to complete each course, but you can always circle back, re-do exercises on different days bringing different inspirations and perspectives, and see what happens. 

Will I get to do my own writing as part of these courses?

Yes, absolutely! The whole point is to get you inspired, and get you writing. There will be writing tasks set for each module, and they will be marked ‘Let’s Get Creative’. There’s no homework, just jumping-off points. Where you land is up to you. 

What level do I have to be at to take these courses?

You are very welcome to join us if you are a complete beginner – no experience is necessary! More intermediate or advanced poets should also find plenty of things to cut their teeth on here – the creative exercises can be as easy or as challenging as you would like. 

Please do join us on this journey, not to write The Best Super Short Poem in the World, but to use super-short poetry as a Way In to seeing, and writing, anew. We ask that you come with curiosity, openness, and kindness towards yourself. You are here to be playful, perhaps to learn some new techniques, and hopefully to discover the ways that starting very small can help us to slow down, focus, and perhaps in the long-run even dream bigger. 

What super-short forms will be covered?

In this course, we'll be looking at visual and digital forms of super-short poetry.

Contents

1. Dog Ear Poems
2. Blackout Poems
3. The rise of the confessional Insta-poet
4. Twitter Micropoems
5. Tiny Revolutions: Miniature art
6. Experiments in Creative Play: Boosters and Tips to Keep Writing 
7. Poetry in Unexpected Places