A Writing Workshop on Memory, Absence and Grief

When we grieve, it sometimes feels impossible to find the words to describe our loss. Whether we mourn the death of a loved one or the departure of the old ways of life, it’s important to gather together and hold space for these feelings.

In this workshop, presented by THE CITY and Brooklyn Public Library as part of the MISSING THEM Memorial Event, we will look to poems that can help us remember the ones we’ve lost and articulate the absence we each feel. Together, we’ll use our memories as well as our griefs to write poems that help us to name what we feel. This workshop will involve several writing exercises and the opportunity for participants to share with the group. Participants will come away with prompts and ideas for further exploration.

Jay Deshpande is the author of Love the Stranger (YesYes Books) and the new chapbook The Umbrian Sonnets, out now from PANK Books. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, New England Review, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, a Kundiman fellowship, and residencies at Civitella Ranieri and the Saltonstall Arts Colony. He teaches for Brooklyn Poets and in the MFA Program at Columbia University.