Throughout the course, participants will explore contemporary writing practices — from poetry and prose to forms that exist between the two. They will experiment with different approaches to writing, from myth and free verse to classical poetic forms and poetic prose. Gradually, they will expand their understanding of what poetry can be today and explore the possibilities of developing their own artistic language.

1. Introduction: How Poetry Works, Then and Now, and Where We Find Ourselves Within It
September 13, Sunday, 2 PM

Why do we start writing poetry — and what makes us return to it? In the first session, we will discuss how poetry works today, how our understanding of it has changed, and what place our own writing practice can occupy within this history. We will begin with simple exercises and explore how writing can become part of everyday life.

2. Mythopoetics: From Documents to Our Own Stories
September 20, Sunday, 2 PM

We live among countless cultural myths — and constantly create new ones. In the second session, we will explore how personal experiences, documents, and memories can transform into myths, and then try creating our own stories and tales.

3. Free Verse: How Verse Creates Spaces
September 27, Sunday, 2 PM

Free verse frees poetry from predetermined rhythm and rhyme, allowing us to find our own ways of speaking about events, states, and sensations. In this session, we will work with free verse and explore how rhythm, pauses, and structure create the inner space of a text.

4. Established Forms: From Sonnets to Haiku
October 4, Sunday, 2 PM

What happens when a poem follows a particular form? We will explore different poetic traditions and experiment with syllabo-tonic verse, sonnets, and haiku, considering how formal constraints can, in fact, open up new possibilities for writing.

5. Poetic Prose: Writing About What Matters Without Losing Breath
October 11, Sunday, 2 PM

Where does a poem end and prose begin? In the final session, we will explore prose through rhythm, imagery, and attention to language. We will discuss how to write about complex events and states of mind in ways that are concise, precise, and expressive.

Instructor: Ivan Poltoratsky — poet, philologist, and specialist in historical poetics.

The course will be held in Russian. All sessions will take place at Atelier, Tselinny’s educational space on the second floor.

Participation fee:
6,000 KZT — single session
25,000 KZT — full five-session course

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