This class will be run partly as a reading group, partly as a creative writing workshop. During a typical session, we'll start out by reading and discussing one or two poems, then use these as a jumping-off place for our own creative work. We'll spend the second part of the class drafting poems, then reconvene to share our work with one another. Every few weeks, we'll also have revision sessions to edit and polish poems drafted in earlier classes. Topics we may cover include: formal poetry (sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, and the like), free verse, blank verse, prose poetry, concrete poetry, erasure poetry, and ekphrastic poetry. We'll also talk about how to submit your writing for publication and take a look at some of the many fantastic literary magazines that welcome submissions from teen writers. The class will culminate with the publication of a student-produced literary 'zine featuring each student's favorite poems written during the class.