Which poets would you put on your syllabus?

If you were running a poetry workshop, who would you want your students to read?

I’ve been regularly teaching some small-group poetry workshops since September (after a few years of only teaching sporadically). One of the joys of designing a writing workshop is the freedom to choose which poets to bring into the creative learning space. To my mind, it’s something like curating an art exhibition, thinking through which exhibits will provoke a response, which will encourage debate and which might inspire new work. Then I consider which poems work well together, which provide a contrasting viewpoint, which have overlapping themes. For many years, I’ve kept a reading notebook, documenting particular poems that resonate with me in some way. I either photocopy and paste them into my book or copy them out in longhand. So this ‘special notebook’ is a good resource to browse through when I’m compiling poems to bring into my workshops. So far, in the workshops I’ve run since September, participants have read from a list which has included (in no particular order) poems by Roger Robinson, Adam Zagajewski, Geraldine Clarkson, Paul Stephenson, Wendy Cope, Zaffar Kunial, Chrissy Williams, Mary Jean Chan, Rachel Spence, Matthew Paul, Michael Longley, Louise Glück, Jemma Borg, Glyn Maxwell, Alice Oswald, John Clare, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Nan Craig, David Baker, Anne Stevenson, Sean Hewitt, Liz Berry, Gboyega Udubanjo, Jeff Phelps, Frank O' Hara, Edip Cansever - and others. Coming up, for my next workshop, I’ve also included poems by Layli Long Soldier, Caroline Bird, Isobel Dixon, Sam Willetts, and Stephen Sexton. I’m still writing my next workshop so there are more poets to add.

I’d love to know, who you would include on your workshop if you were teaching it? Who do you think deserves a place there? Which poems, in your view, will spark ideas, ruffle feathers (in a good way)

demand attention? If you were a student, which poems would you like to see? I’m all ears to your suggestions!

Photo by Fahrul Azmi on Unsplash