Poetry is Not a Luxury: Why Poetry is Necessary Right Now

Tuesday, May 7

$95/ticket

$500/institutional or group ticket

6:00 – 8:00 PM EDT
5:00 – 7:00 PM CDT

In her 1977 essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” Audre Lorde writes that we all must focus on the light inside ourselves, which manifests itself as poetry. Poetry offers us the ability to turn “our hopes and dreams toward survival and change,” lending itself as not only a medium but a very essential tool. For poet laureate Ashley M. Jones, poetry has been the key way in which she has been able to make sense of both herself and the world.

Now, as we face threats to truth, to educational freedom, and to humanitarian rights worldwide, where does poetry fit into our goals for Lorde’s “survival and change”?

If poetry is, as Lorde argues, “the skeleton architecture of our lives,” it must be harnessed to help us heal, empathize, and unite with one another. In this two-hour masterclass, we will explore poetry as an instrument of survival, using examples in poetic text as well as Ashley’s life and experiences.

About Ashley M. Jones

As the first person of color and the youngest person to hold the position of Poet Laureate of Alabama in its 93 year existence, Ashley M. Jones is passionate about telling the truth and breaking barriers with an eye toward empathy. She is the Associate Director of the University Honors Program at UAB, and she is part of the Core Faculty of the Converse University Low Residency MFA Program.

Ashley is a dedicated educator and community servant–she is founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival, board member of the Alabama Writers Cooperative and the Alabama Writers Forum, co-director of PEN America’s Birmingham Chapter, and a faculty member in the Creative Writing Department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts. In 2022, she served as a guest editor of POETRY Magazine.