Lang 371: Crummy Little Things: The Companionship and Consolation of Creative Work

Instructor: Brit Washburn

Nobel Laureate Louise Gluck has said, “I started working on something and it was really bad, it was crummy, but I was really so happy just to be working on a little crummy thing.” Even as our anxieties, our preoccupations with fear and regret, can dominate our consciousness, so too, can our preoccupations with creative work, but for the better. The practice of fiddling with “crummy little things”—on the page, or in our heads—can serve as salve and salvation in times that might otherwise be characterized by psychic anguish. In this workshop, we will explore the life-giving, life-sustaining nature of poetry as both readers and writers through the close examination of texts and exercises in observation, composition, and revision, as well as the sheer pleasure of the process and practice of writing itself. Readings will include work by Gluck, as well as Matthew Arnold, W.H. Auden, Wendell Berry, Hayden Carruth, and others. 

Brit Washburn was educated at Interlochen Arts Academy, The New School for Social Research, University of Hawaii, and Goddard College.  She works as a writer, editor, and Montessori teacher and lives in Asheville, NC.  Her poems and essays have appeared widely in print and online, and her debut poetry collection, Notwithstanding, was published by Wet Cement Press in November of 2019.  Her essay collection, Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose, is forthcoming from Alexandria Quarterly Press in August 2023.

Meets in-person at UNC Asheville, Karpen Hall, Room 243

Thursday evenings starting October 19, 6:00-8:30 PM

Register for the course: https://greatsmokies.unca.edu/fall-2023-classes/