Diversions and Interruptions: Craft Techniques for Complicating the Forward Motion of a Poem, with Richard Siken

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | How do you get from the first line to the last? Do you use plot or argument? Do you track the way the mind moves? There are simple and traditional ways of moving forward but what if we want to swerve, leap, or delay? How can we build anticipation and make the poem more mysterious? This craft talk will explore techniques we can use to deflect or subvert the expectations of straightforward propulsions. 

Richard Siken is a poet and painter. His first book Crush won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, selected by Louise Glück, a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, a Thom Gunn Award from the Publishing Triangle, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His other books are War of the Foxes (Copper Canyon Press, 2015) and, most recently, 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.