The Pyrotechnics of Heartbreak: Constructions of Loss with Richard Siken

​If you can point to it, you don’t need a word for it. This fact is foundational. It informs our conversation and our literature. And if absence is what we build our scaffolding around, in an effort to define and contain it, then what strategies can we deploy in opposition to inevitable lack and loss? This workshop will discuss the traditions and techniques of the lyric poem, the history of the elegy, and the impulse to fight grief with human utterance.

​FAQs:

• ​I'm unable to join live. Will the event be recorded?
  Yes! The event will be recorded and shared with ticket-holders via email the following day. The recording will be available for 30 days after the workshop.

• ​How can I participate during the event?
  You will be joining a Zoom Meeting for this event. We encourage you to have your camera on, but remain muted until prompted. We also recommend that you come prepared with writing materials!

• ​I live outside the U.S. Can I still join?
  Yes! We have many international members in Sustenance. We'd love to see you there no matter where you're tuning in from.

​BIO:

​Richard Siken is a poet and painter. His book Crush won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, selected by Louise Glück, a Lambda Literary Award, a Thom Gunn Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His other books are War of the Foxes (Copper Canyon Press, 2015) and I Do Know Some Things (Copper Canyon Press, 2025), which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Siken is a recipient of fellowships from Lannan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.