Let's crack poems open and see them for their parts--where are they successful & resonant?  Where are they timid, show weakness, or overflow their banks?  W.D. Snodgrass took 101 acclaimed poems and re-wrote them into what he called De/Compositions--or, good poems gone wrong. Snodgrass recast each poem, line-by-line, until the result looked entirely different from the original. His versions document how artistic choices accumulate, and translate to a transcendent product.  No gesture is too small, no trope too tiny, each choice matters in crafting the sound and sensation of the poem.

Each week, participants will choose from among 2-3 poems to discuss and render their own version. You can deconstruct it, recast it classically, go Minimalist, whatever strikes you. Our versions will question each choice the poet made, and redirect that energy into making our “own” poems.