Lavish Syntax, A Craft Talk with Rick Barot

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | The problem at the heart of writing a poem is the problem of dramatization. That is, how do we dramatize in language—a very limited means—the dynamics of thought, sensation, mystery, knowledge, and unsayability that often comprise human experience? In this lecture, we’ll examine the crucial importance of syntax in vitalizing a poem. We’ll look at poems with powerful content and the syntactical correlatives the poets use in dramatizing that content.

Rick Barot is the author of five books of poetry, including Moving the Bones (Milkweed, 2024); The Galleons (Milkweed, 2020), which was longlisted for the National Book Award; and Chord (Sarabande, 2015), which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and received the Rilke Prize, the PEN Open Book Award, and the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Artist Trust of Washington, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the 2020 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. Born in the Philippines, he lives in Tacoma, Washington, where he teaches at Pacific Lutheran University and directs the Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program.

Photo credit: Rachel McCauley