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Braiding Uncertainty and Possibility: A Poetic Exploration

writer in yellow shirt holding pen to paper
WRITING 731.7

Learn to approach the blank page with creativity and intentionality in your poetry.

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Duration
As few as 1 day
Units
0.0
Current Formats
Live Online
Cost
$0

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What you can learn.

Examine text and subtext in poetry
Explore new generative tools for approaching the blank page
Engage with music and sensory source materials
Develop new strategies for engaging your poetry practice regularly

About This Course

A blank page offers a universe of uncertainty and possibility. What is a constructive way to approach such vast emptiness, and to drive toward a generative space where absence and presence intertwine? In this workshop, we’ll consider and utilize sources suffusing our sensory world with material that can inspire authentic creative self-expression. Specifically, we’ll engage music, source materials, and the relationship between text and subtext as tools to fuel our poetry. By the end of this workshop, we’ll encounter and cultivate these strategies and tools to diversify our practices as readers, writers, and thinkers. All levels of experience are welcome.

Spring 2026 Schedule

Date
Details
Format
 
Thursday 5:00PM - 7:00PM PT
REG#
407399
Live Onlineformat icon
UCLA X Open
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Notes

Enrollment limited; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required.

This UCLAxOpen session is led by special guest instructor Raffi Joe Wartanian. Raffi Joe Wartanian is a writer, musician, and educator who teaches writing at UCLA and serves as the inaugural Poet Laureate in the City of Glendale, California. A 2025-2026 Laureate Fellow with the Academy of American Poets, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Academy of American Poets, and elsewhere.

This course is held via video teleconference. As such, instructors use Zoom to offer a live class meeting at the designated time. Students must be present at the course meeting time to participate in the class. 

Course Requirements
Internet access required to access course materials.
Schedule
Type
Date
Time
Location
Online
Thu Apr 2, 2026
5:00PM PT - 7:00PM PT
UCLA X Open
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