“Laux shows us how to endure hardships without losing humanity and compassion.”
—The Washington Post

Dorianne and Joe’s Poetry workshop at Cavallo Point, Aug 30-Sept 2nd

Day One

Finding the Poem: Memory, Image & Discovery

Morning Lecture
Dorianne and Joe explore how poems begin—with attention, curiosity, memory, and the willingness to follow an image into unexpected territory. Participants will examine how everyday experiences, landscapes, relationships, and personal histories can become the foundation for powerful poetry.

Topics include:

Finding inspiration in ordinary moments
Writing from memory and lived experience
The power of image and sensory detail
Transforming personal stories into universal poems
Balancing imagination and truth

Writing Exercise
Guided prompts designed to generate new poems from memory, observation, and place.

Workshop Feedback
Participants share selected new work created during the workshop and receive supportive responses focused on discovery, possibility, and craft.

Day Three

Shaping the Poem: Revision, Craft & Transformation

The final session focuses on the art of revision—how poets listen to a poem, discover its deeper intentions, and shape new writing into finished work.

Topics include:

Strengthening beginnings and endings
Sharpening imagery and language
Finding the hidden center of a poem
Understanding what to add, cut, and develop
Building a sustainable poetry practice

Writing Exercise
Revising and transforming a new draft created during the retreat.

Workshop Feedback
Final sharing and discussion of new poems, with suggestions for revision and continued development.

Poetry of Memory, Place
& the Lived Experience
with Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar

Spend each morning workshop (9 a.m. – 12 noon) with Dorianne and Joe and an intimate group of up to twelve poets. Participants will explore how personal experience, memory, place, image, and imagination can be transformed into poems that speak beyond the self. Through close readings, craft discussions, writing exercises, and thoughtful feedback, writers will discover new approaches to deepening their poems and strengthening their poetic voice.

This will be a generative writing workshop, and poets will create new poetry during the retreat and feedback will be given. The workshop meets three mornings (Mon, Tues, Wed), offering poets the rare opportunity to work closely with two nationally celebrated poets and teachers in a supportive, inspiring setting.

Limited to 12 participants

Dorianne Laux and Joe Millar are among the most respected poets and teachers in contemporary American poetry. Together, their work explores the landscapes of memory, family, work, love, loss, nature, and the moments of ordinary life that reveal our deepest human connections.

Dorianne Laux is the author of numerous acclaimed collections, including Only as the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, The Book of Men, winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize, Facts About the Moon, recipient of the Oregon Book Award, and Life on Earth. Her poems are celebrated for their emotional honesty, vivid imagery, and ability to illuminate the profound within everyday experience.

Joe Millar is the author of several acclaimed poetry collections, including Dark Harvest, Blue Rust, and Kingdom. His poems draw from the landscapes of labor, family, nature, and the American West, combining narrative power with lyric intensity. His work is admired for giving voice to the overlooked moments and experiences that shape a life.

As teachers, Laux and Millar have inspired generations of writers through their generous, insightful approach to poetry and craft. Their workshops encourage poets to pay closer attention—to image and sound, memory and metaphor, the inner and outer landscapes that shape our stories.

*** Limited to 12 participants ***

Day Two

Deepening the Poem: Voice, Music & Meaning

Through examples from contemporary poetry and guided writing exercises, Dorianne and Joe explore how poems develop through language, rhythm, metaphor, surprise, and emotional depth.

Topics include:

Discovering your authentic poetic voice
Creating music through sound and rhythm
Using metaphor and imagery to deepen meaning
Writing toward surprise and discovery
Moving beyond the first idea of a poem

Writing Exercise
New generative prompts focused on voice, imagery, metaphor, and expanding the emotional landscape of a poem.

Workshop Feedback
Participants discuss poems created during the retreat, exploring what is emerging and where each poem may want to go next.

Throughout the Workshop

Each participant will:

Create new poems through daily guided writing exercises
Receive thoughtful feedback on work generated during the retreat
Explore craft through close readings and discussion
Learn new approaches to image, metaphor, voice, and revision

Experience the rare opportunity to work closely with two nationally acclaimed poets in a small-group setting

Participants will leave the retreat with new poems, fresh approaches to their writing practice, and a deeper understanding of how poetry grows from attention—to memory, landscape, language, and the extraordinary moments hidden within everyday life.