MAGICAL INTENTION IN POETRY
Some people believe that a poem comes from some magical place, the unconscious, the muse, the ether. Other people believe that a poem comes from the writer’s intention, and others still fall somewhere in between. In this course, we'll explore both the mysterious magical place where poetry might come from and learn about craft—the writer’s intention (sometimes through the subconscious). We’ll focus on craft and technique (the line, image, syntax, revision, and more), with an emphasis on language and the possibilities of language, so we'll be ready for magic when it arrives. Students will be pushed beyond your comfort zones—to experiment and try new things, and will leave the course with new poems, new inspirations, and seeds for new future poems.
Victoria Chang
Online Poetry Class Instructor May 2026 || she/her
Victoria Chang’s (she/her) most recent book of poems, With My Back to the World was published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Corsair Books in the U.K., and received the Forward Prize for Best Collection of Poetry, was named a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the PEN Jean/Stein Award, and was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Guardian, Lithub, and Electric Literature. Her most recent book of poetry, The Trees Witness Everything, was published by Copper Canyon Press and Corsair Books in the U.K. in 2022, and was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by The New Yorker and The Guardian. Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021 and was named a favorite nonfiction book of 2021 by Electric Literature and Kirkus. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her book of poems, was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize.
She has written several children’s books as well and Eureka is forthcoming from FSG Books for Young Readers in 2026. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the Chowdhury Prize in Literature. She serves as the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and as the Director of Poetry@Tech. Her poems have been translated into many languages, including Italian, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, Romanian, German, Latvian, Greek, and Dutch.