Accent Craftclass x Ayesha Raees I I Am Not a Poem But a Poem: Curating Intention in Writing & Editorial Practice
I Am Not a Poem But a Poem: Curating Intention in Writing & Editorial Practice
You have finished drafting a poem and you find yourself with a feeling both good and bad. You feel accomplished: you finished something brewing with emotional depth and intellect. But you also feel a slow creep of dread, a usual spiral of self-doubt: Is this any good?
In this masterclass, students will be guided towards the mystical question of what makes a poem ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ They will learn to step into the shoes often poetry editors and academics wear when assessing a poem’s qualities. By working through prosody, we will think about the power of intentional effect and its consequence in poetry. Most significantly, we will talk about how ‘good’ and ‘bad’ intentionality can surface in a work and how a grasp on our own agency can seep in what we create.
The workshop focuses on how to deploy literary images with precision, vividness, singularity, and emotional resonance in a poem while also introducing one to a confident editorial practice of their own work. We will delve in class generating writing prompts focusing on context and form and partake in a communal editorial practice to amplify our skillsets as both poets and editors. I will also lead an editorial exercise to showcase the process of editing a poem, both as a poet and an editor.
Most importantly, we will focus on the myth of the arbitrary, the often contest between craft and subject, and find a rubric of what makes our poems ‘good’ enough to leave our nests towards being seen by others.
Bio:
Ayesha Raees عائشہ رئیس is a poet and artist identifying as a hybrid creating hybrid poetry through hybrid forms. Her interdisciplinary work places poetry at its center and delves into paint, film, sound, theater, performance, and collaboration with the intention of breaking conventional ideas of linear language, form, and genre to materialize a space of belonging for marginalia and their narratives.
Her work strongly revolves around issues of belonging and dislocation, G/god and spirituality, and beauty::cruelty while possessing a strong agency for decolonial, anti-violence, and anti-erasure practices. She edits poetry at The Margins and has received endorsements from Asian American Writers Workshop, Kundiman, Brooklyn Poets, UNESCO, Millay Colony For The Arts, Art Omi, and elsewhere. Her work has been published extensively, including Poetry Northwest, Pleiades, The Nation, Poets.org and others. Her first book of poems Coining A Wishing Tower won the Broken River Prize and was an Indies Award Finalist. Originally from Lahore, she is based in New York City.
Accent Masterclass I 我不是一首诗，但又成了一首诗 : 改稿会 x Ayesha Raees
当你写完一首诗，往往会陷入一种微妙的状态：一方面，你为完成了一件凝聚情感与思考的作品而感到满足；另一方面，一种熟悉的不安却悄然浮现——这首诗，真的好吗？
在这门大师课中，我们将一起进入这个看似主观却又无可回避的问题：什么让一首诗成为“好诗”？什么又使它失效？课程将引导你暂时走出“作者”的位置，尝试站在诗歌编辑与评论者的角度，重新审视一首作品的构成与判断标准。通过对韵律与语言结构（prosody）的讨论，我们将理解“有意为之”的力量——以及这种意图如何在诗中产生效果，或失去效果。
更重要的是，我们会讨论“意图”的不同层次：什么是有效的意图，什么是失控或模糊的意图？当我们逐渐意识到自身在写作中的能动性，这种意识又将如何渗透进文本之中，改变我们表达的方式。
本工作坊将重点关注如何在诗歌中使用意象——使其既精准又鲜明，既独特又具有情感张力。同时，我们也将建立一种更自信的自我编辑方式。课堂将结合写作与讨论，通过围绕“语境”与“形式”的提示进行练习，并开展集体编辑，以提升我们作为诗人与编辑的双重能力。我也会现场示范一首诗的修改过程，呈现作者与编辑两种视角之间的转换与拉扯。
最终，我们将回到一个核心问题：如何拆解“写作是任意的”这一神话？在技艺与题材之间反复摆动的过程中，是否存在一种属于你自己的判断尺度——让你知道，一首诗何时已经“足够好”，可以离开你的手，被他人阅读与回应。
Ayesha Raees（عائشہ رئیس）是一位诗人和艺术家，自我认同为“混合体”（hybrid），通过跨媒介与跨形式创作“混合诗歌”。她的跨学科实践以诗歌为核心，延展至绘画、影像、声音、戏剧、表演以及协作创作，旨在打破线性语言、既定形式与体裁的传统观念，从而为边缘群体及其叙事构建一种可被栖居的空间。
她的创作高度聚焦于“归属与失所”、G/god与灵性，以及“美::残酷”等主题，同时展现出鲜明的去殖民、反暴力与反抹除的创作立场与行动力。她现任《The Margins》诗歌编辑，曾获得包括亚洲美国作家工作坊（Asian American Writers’ Workshop）、Kundiman、Brooklyn Poets、联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）、Millay Colony for the Arts、Art Omi等机构的支持与认可。
她的作品广泛发表于《Poetry Northwest》《Pleiades》《The Nation》《Poets.org》等刊物。其首部诗集《Coining A Wishing Tower》荣获Broken River Prize，并入围Indies Award决选。她出生于巴基斯坦拉合尔，目前居住并创作于纽约市。