Thursday, April 16, 2026
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
DMACC Building 7 Conference Room, 1100 7th St., Des Moines, IA 50314
What's in a Name?
Led by Martín Espada
This is a generative workshop. Through the example of a great Afro-Cuban poet and the voices of the poets in the workshop, we will explore ancestors, family, culture, history, memory, the known and unknown, the spoken and unspoken, elements that make up what we call “identity.” Poets will write on the spot, then read their poems aloud—not for critical feedback, but for thunderous applause.
Saturday, April 18, 2026
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. | Grand View University
Morning Poetry Workshop Session (Pick One)
The Illusion of Surface: Writing Deep into Place
Led by Kimberly Blaeser
Q: What does a postcard image of place miss?
A: Everything important.
In this generative workshop we will look at sample poems by writers such as Jane Hirshfield, Jennifer Foerster, Caroyln Forche, and N. Scott Momaday that convey the alive complexity of place. We will explore strategies to unlock and write the layers of our world including the mythic, ecological, historic, and personal. Participants will engage in writing exercises, draft one poem, and create a bank of poem starts from prompts. As a group, we will experiment with joining persona voices to convey the community of place.
Hope in Writing: A Generative Poetry Workshop
Led by Kelli Lage
Participants will take a journey exploring the multifaceted concept of hope within poetry. We will consider where and how hope becomes present in our pieces, as well as why we value hope, even in the most vulnerable writings. This workshop will include journal entries to encourage critical thinking over your current process, examples of poems that explore the complexity of hope, and prompts to help you generate work, exploring mood and emotive writing through a fresh perspective! You will leave this workshop with new pieces, ideas, and writing techniques.
Saturday, April 18, 2026
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. | Grand View University
Afternoon Poetry Workshop Session (Pick One)
Big Mood
Led by Jewel Rodgers
Big Mood is an interactive performance lab that helps writers master the art of embodiment through vocal dynamics, commanding body language, and intentional tone. This is how we bridge the gap between what you write and what the audience feels.
Poetry as the Inverse of AI
Led by Jennifer L. Knox
Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg took on a chatbot named Casper as a client to see what made it tick. After more than 40 sessions, his conclusion was that Casper was “the inverse of autistic.” It was smart and empathetic in compelling ways, yet its underlying drive—to be used (loved?) as much as possible—left an obsequious Eddie Haskell-taste in Greenberg's mouth.
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Poet and MIT professor Joshua Bennett calls AI “a prediction machine,” one that produces unexceptional verse using phrases we long ago turned loose. It cannot think a new thought or conjure a feeling from the uncanny landscape of a dream.
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To read or write a poem is to step into uncertainty. A poem fuses forces that dwarf us with the most personal and rare particulars. If you fear your poems—and your social-emotional consciousness—are being uploaded to the cloud, this class is for you. Together, we’ll explore how AI pretends to be human, how it “writes” poems, and how we can amplify the humanness in our own writing.
Youth Workshops
Engaging youth in poetry is a critical piece of our mission. We are thrilled to collaborate with many community partners to arrange the youth workshops below.
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For more information on youth workshops, please contact poetryamp@gmail.com.
Note: These youth workshops are not open to the public.​
2026 Poetry Palooza Youth Workshops
Friday, April 17, 2026
8:45 - 10: 30 a.m.
Bondurant Middle School
Led by Kelli Lage
Participants: Students grades 7-12
Expressing Yourself Through Personification Poetry
Students will read a personification poem with the title removed. After discussing and analysing the piece, students will have a chance to guess the poem's title. Students will then have an opportunity to write their own personification poem. Students will use figurative language to express themselves by personifying objects they come across everyday. Students will leave the workshop with one new poem and ideas about what to explore next in their writing!
Friday, April 17, 2026
9:30 - 10:30 a.m.
DMACC Urban Campus
Led by Martín Espada
Participants: Latinos in Action students from East, North, Roosevelt, Lincoln, & Urbandale High Schools
We are eager to bring poet Martín Espada to the students of Latinos in Action from several metro area high schools. Workshop details to come.
Friday, April 17, 2026
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Atlantic High School
Led by Jewel Rodgers
Participants: High school students grades 9-12
Big Mood
​Big Mood is an interactive performance lab that helps writers master the art of embodiment through vocal dynamics, commanding body language, and intentional tone. This is how we bridge the gap between what you write and what the audience feels.
Friday, April 17, 2026
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Meskwaki School (Tama)
Led by Kimberly Blaeser
Participants: Middle & high school students grades 7-12
Bringing People Alive in Poems
How can we write about the memorable or influential people in our lives in a fresh way? How do we render personality in poetry? This workshop will look at examples of unique people poems by poets such as Ada Limon, Simon Ortiz, and Nikki Giovanni and consider the approaches or poetic elements that make the poems effective. Participants will respond to prompts and engage in writing exercises to generate material. Please bring a photo of a person for one of the exercises. While this person may be someone you know or knew well, it could as readily be a public personality or historic figure. Students will leave with a poem draft and a bank of ideas to continue their writing.
Additional Youth Programming Partnerships
Oakridge Neighborhood, Led by Lenny Bell
Central Academy, Led by Lenny Bell
Central Iowa Shelter & Services, Led by Kelsey Bigelow