Poetry
February 15-19, 2027
Tiered Tuition
$150-$400 Reserve My Spot
About the Offering
February 15th to 19th at 7pm to 9pm (Eastern Time)
Agha Shahid Ali likens the ghazal to a necklace strung with “Ravishing DisUnities,” of which each stone is an autonomous couplet that shines in “vivid isolation.” At once playful and sincere, irreverent and sacred, regimented and malleable, the ghazal is capacious enough to accommodate our self-contradictions, multitudes, and ever-evolving personalities.
In this generative workshop, we will begin with the ghazal’s history and then explore its form: the rhyme-refrain scheme (qafia-radif), autonomous couplets (sher), repetition and variation, opening couplet (matla), final couplet (maqta), and author’s signature (takhallus). Inspired by the works of poets such as Shaid, Ghalib, Hafez, and Zeina, we will write a communal ghazal followed by individual ghazals in which we will flirt with, ignore, beg, provoke, argue with, surrender to, and resist “the beloved.”
Several detailed and fun writing prompts will be provided, which the participants can follow as closely or loosely as they see fit. We will also listen to sung Urdu ghazals to get a sense of the mehfil, an intimate gathering where ghazals were traditionally performed. While primarily generative, this class will also offer opportunities for sharing and soft workshops.
About the Instructor/Moderator
Samyak Shertok’s
Samyak Shertok’s debut collection, No Rhododendron (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025), was selected by Kimiko Hahn for the 2024 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and shortlisted for the 2026 PEN Open Book Award and the 2026 Nossrat Yassini Poetry Prize. His poems appear in The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, POETRY, Shenandoah, Waxwing, and elsewhere. A finalist for the National Poetry Series, the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, and the Jake Adam York Prize, he has received fellowships from Aspen Words, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His work has been awarded the Robert and Adele Schiff Award for Poetry, the Gulf CoastPrize in Poetry, and the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. Originally from Nepal, he is an assistant professor at Mississippi State University.
