Katie Sarah Zale
Katie Sarah Zale has published four collections of poetry, including The Weight of a Leaf (Kelsay Books), a finalist for the Arizona Book Award. She is the director of a Tucson, poetry-reading series. Co-editor of Winter in America (Again (Carbonation Press), poems in response to the 2024 Presidential election, she is also working on a biography of Sam Hamill.
Sam Hamill’s Narrow Road to the Interior
Poet, translator, editor, Zen Buddhist, co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, and activist for Poets Against (the)War, Sam Hamill devoted his whole life to the practice of writing poetry. The following topics are foundational for this generative workshop: how ancient poetic traditions still define quality poetry, the Beat poets, the long poetic sequence, poetry as political, and the role of reflection and emotion. Facilitator Katie Sarah Zale is writing a biography on Hamill’s life and legacy.
Saturdays 2-4:00 PM Pacific Time
February 8 – March 8, 2025
February 8, 15, 22
March 1, 8
Course Materials Week One
(Saturday, February 8, 2025, 2-4 pm PsT)
Read: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl Available HERE
Recommended Reading: A Poet’s Work, Sam Hamill
Course Materials Week Two
(SATURday, February 15, 2025, 2-4 pm PST)
Read: A Poet in the World, Denise Levertov
At Home in the World, Sam Hamill
Course Materials Week Three
(Saturday, february 22, 2025, 2-4 pm PsT)
Read: The Art of Writing: Lu Chi’s Wen Fu. Milkweed Editions, 2000 translated by Sam Hamill
The Essential Basho. Shambhala, 1998 translated by Sam Hamill
Tao Te Ching. Shambhala, 2007 translated by Sam Hamill
Poets Against the War. Thunder Mouth’s Press, 2003 edited by Sam Hamill
Watch: Three Principles of I Ching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wef79-md0tM
SUPPLEMENTAL IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE
Course Materials Week Four
(Saturday, March 1, 2025, 2-4 pm PST)
Read: How to Write a Haiku
The Art of Writing: Lu Chi’s Wen Fu, Milkweed Editions, 2000 translated by Sam Hamill
The Essential Basho, Shambhala, 1998 translated by Sam Hamill
Wen Fu: The Art of Writing. Lu Chi.
Watch: Jane Hirschfield on The Art of Metaphor
Rebecca Longtin on Heidegger’s Poetically Man Dwells
Course Materials Week Five
(Sunday, March 8, 2025, 2-4 pm PST)
Read: Amichai, Yehuda. Open Closed Open. trans by. Bloch, Chana and Kronfeld, Chana. Harcourt, Inc., 2000.
Hamill, Sam. Habitations. Long Horse Press, 2014. 600 pp.
Rosenthal, M.L. and Gall, Sally M. The Modern Poetic Sequence: The Genius of Modern Poetry. Oxford University Press, 1983.
Spahr, Juliana. Fuck You, Aloha, I Love You. Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
Bios & Edible Earth photos: Sam Hamill & Ian Boyden
Excerpt from Katie Sarah Zale: on Modern Poetic Sequence
Haiku
Excerpt from Paul Nelson interview with Sam Hamill