ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

Shaping the Pulse of Your Work

Every poem carries a hidden heartbeat. This workshop centers on revision as a path toward uncovering it. Through gentle prompts, we’ll practice techniques for clarifying intention, strengthening imagery, and cutting what obscures the story. Whether you’re polishing a draft or beginning something new, you’ll leave with tools to transform your work from early idea to essential truth.

ABOUT THE POET

Ra Avis (she/her) is an artist, community builder, and an award-winning blogger. She is a 2025 Writing Freedom Fellow with Haymarket Books. Ra’s storytelling blends personal vulnerability with systemic critique, always centering the tender stretch toward something more than survival. She is the founder of Kites Library, a free archive of resource-sharing mini zines, and a co-founding organizer of the Biggest Little Zine Fair.

ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility is a core value for Split This Rock. We strive to provide programs, materials, and communications that allow people within the disability community to engage fully. Zoom auto-captions will be provided. Written versions of poem prompts and poems used for discussion will be provided via screen share, the chat, or links. 

Let us know of any accessibility questions or accommodation requests via the workshop registration form or by emailing [email protected] with "ACCESS REQUEST" in the subject line by Wednesday, February 11th. Given our ongoing funding challenges, we cannot promise accessibility services, but will do our best to provide accommodations.

ABOUT SPLIT THIS ROCK

Split This Rock is the only national organization with a mission to integrate poetry and social justice. We materially support poets who are often excluded and underrepresented in the literary landscape, particularly those who are BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled or chronically ill, and/or working class. With strong commitments to racial, gender, economic, and disability justice, we work to expand the horizons of inclusion and assert the transformative power of language to bear witness to injustice and provoke social change. We believe poetry acts as an agent for change by revealing the diversity and complexity of human experience, reflecting on daily lives and struggles, considering personal and social responsibility, and envisioning a better world. Learn more at Split This Rock's website.