Classes
Three Japanese Forms: Then, and Now, and Yet to Come
Learn about three traditional Japanese poetic forms: the haiku, the haibun, and the waka, by exploring some examples in translation by Japanese poets from ancient times until today. After learning the tools of their trade and the trademarks of these forms, have a chance to write your own poem in form after one of the poets we read, or from a selection of experimental prompts that take these forms into future.
About the Instructor
Emily Okamoto-Green
Emily Okamoto-Green is a half-Japanese essayist, poet, and animal lover. Originally from Shizuoka-ken, Japan's green tea capital, her family relocated to Richmond, VA in 1998. A 2018 Graduate of George Mason University’s Honors and English Honors College, she graduated from GMU again in 2021 with her MFA in Poetry. Her accolades include the Virginia Downs Poetry Award, the Joseph Lohman III Poetry Prize, The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center 2020 fellowship, YesPoetry Magazine’s Poet of the Month, and inaugural winner of the Berkey Essay Contest. Her life highlights include Arthur Sze once saying her poem had a sense of wonder, bowing on stage at Carnegie Hall as a teenaged poet, and any time a cat or dog has come up to her without her first initiating the interaction. Emily tries to spend as much time as possible with her feet in the Atlantic or dreaming of them in the Pacific once more. She currently serves as the Writer in Residence for the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.
Instagram: @emi.dori
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