Exploring Divine Desire and Erotic Ecstasy

Taught by Isra Cheema, this workshop will dive into the intersection of erotica and the divine/religion. Poetry and erotica have always worked in tandem, but how do we as writers weave godly themes into our fantasies? We will be examining poems by Sappho, Lucille Clifton, Rumi, Mary Oliver, Ibn Al-Arabi, Pablo Neruda, and more. Then, we will work through generative exercises to write our own poems of religion, ecstasy, religious ecstasy, and everything in between.