SYLLABUS: CREATIVE WRITING 20313/40313, Technical Seminar in Poetry

Instructor: Garin Cycholl

Winter 2025; Thursdays, 3:30 – 6:20 P.M., Wieboldt Hall 230
Welcome to “Against or Onto ‘The Road.’” This technical seminar in poetry offers writers an opportunity to
examine an essential American poetic space: the road. A core question is how one reads the road’s poetic
surface versus its depths. Does journey itself lay out a clear narrative, admitting its forks, detours, and
breakdowns? How is a basic American “compass” disrupted by poetic reconsiderations of “the road?” Does
every road run “west?” How is the road itself as much about dislocation as it is about coherent journey? As an
orientation to a poetics of space, participants will engage critical perspectives set up by Gaston Bachelard, CS
Giscombe, and Rebecca Solnit. Then, writers will develop their own critical/creative responses, exploring
models established by Gabe Gudding, William Least Heat-Moon, Ed Roberson, and Muriel Rukeyser. Inviting
her readers to remap historical and mythic journeys, Rukeyser resets the road as a conduit into a reassessment of
national narrative through The Book of the Dead. Taking his own road east, Gudding overturns autobiography
in his Rhode Island Notebook. Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways and PrairyErth) and Roberson (MPH and
Other Road Poems) invite explorations of “the road” as much in time as in space or personal journey. Overall,
the course remaps that road, in the words of Giscombe, itself a “scattering [where] nothing cohered.”

Learning Goals: This writing course seeks to strengthen your general abilities in writing and editing,
particularly within your work as a poet and close reader. We will utilize common poems as models, as well as
participate in a larger conversation around geographies/spaces and their significance to poetic work. You will
develop core facilities in defining poetic structures and language through experiment with poetic genre, voice,
and subject. Poetry is a means of grasping, understanding, and articulating human experience. To this end,
your work will be assessed on its capacity to understand genres’ influence through poem, critical
exploration/reflection, and informed commentary and editing of others’ writing.

Instructor’s Office Hours and Phone Number: I will be available for my regular office hours in the Logan
Cafe on Thursdays from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Other times will become available according to class
participants’ needs or by appointment. My e-mail is [email protected]. I can also be contacted via
Canvas message. I try to respond to either within 12 hours. In case of an urgent question, my cell phone
number is (312) 213-2708. Any other questions regarding this course or other courses in the Program on
Creative Writing can be directed to the Program’s Director, Robyn Schiff, at [email protected] .

Required Texts: Listed below. Other poems/readings linked or available through Pages on Canvas as noted on
the syllabus or in class.
Ed Roberson. MPH and Other Road Poems. Chicago: Verge, 2021.
Tess Taylor. Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange. New York: MOMA, 2020.

Required Work and Grading: Work is weighted as follows; all assignments must be submitted to pass this
course. Details of all assignments, including due dates, will be available on Canvas.
30% regular submission of poems (5+ pages)
20% editing of others’ work, class participation, short editor’s introduction (5+ pages—headnote)
20% in-class presentation of research
30% final revised research essay/chapbook (10+ pages—revision of project developed thru class)

A note on grading: A significant portion of this course invites artistic exploration and participation within the
common space of the classroom. I invite you to take chances artistically and submit work regularly. I’ll offer a
range of prompts with each assignment that will hopefully push your capacities as a writer. Moving beyond the
safety of common reflection, “A-work” engages core questions and demonstrates a research focus and
foundational skills set up in class. It may also attempt to reframe our conversations there. “A-work” for the
course overall involves disciplined reading of others’ work, editorial reflection, and regular comments within
the class itself. I anticipate that you will grow not only as a writer, but also editor as you share writing and
conversation with the other workshop participants throughout the quarter.

Attendance is vital to your success in this course. In that vein, please make every effort to be available for the
course’s opening meeting at 3:30 P.M. on Thursday, January 9. Missing more than one class meeting will
affect your final grade. No distinction is made between excused and unexcused absences. Similarly, your
regular participation in workshop discussion is expected. It is anticipated that you will meet all deadlines and
will provide consistent and engaged critique and editorial comments on others’ work in the workshop
environment. Pieces will be due via electronic submission in the week before the class meeting in the week
when they are to be discussed. Late submissions of assignments will be downgraded one letter grade per day
late at instructor’s discretion. Workshop writings will be posted on Canvas for common reading and editing.
Of course, we will also remain attuned to any changes in University policy in terms of the viral outbreak and/or
necessary shifts to distance learning. In that case, assignments and points of interaction in the course will
attempt to sustain a continued sense of communal engagement.

Electronic Devices in the Classroom: I welcome your use of a laptop within this course for note-taking, but
please do not allow this to become a distraction to your (and others’) work in the course. If your use of
electronic devices (including cell/smart phones, laptops, watches, etc.) becomes distracting to the classroom at
large, you will be asked to either turn off the device or, with repeated distraction, leave the classroom, at the
instructor’s discretion. Continued distractions will impact your final grade.

Diversity and Inclusion: This course strives to practice the University’s core principles regarding diversity and
inclusion. In our discussion, the workshop invites the expression of a full range of viewpoints and perspectives.
It is anticipated that this free expression will develop within a space of mutual respect and personal openness to
discovery. For more information on the University’s statement on diversity, please see the President and
Provost’s message at https://diversityandinclusion.uchicago.edu/commitment/message-from-leadership/ .

Accommodations: If you require any accommodations for this course, please provide your instructor with a
copy of your Accommodation Determination Letter (provided to you by the Student Disability Services office)
so that you may discuss with them how your accommodations may be implemented in this course as soon as
possible. The University of Chicago is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its
programs. If you have a documented disability (or think you may have a disability) and, as a result, need a
reasonable accommodation to participate in class, complete course requirements, or benefit from the
University's programs or services, you are encouraged to contact Student Disability Services as soon as
possible. To receive reasonable accommodation, you must obtain an accommodation letter from Student
Disability Services. Please contact the office at 773-702-6000/TTY 773-795-1186 or [email protected]
or visit the website at disabilities.uchicago.edu. Student Disability Services is located at 5501 S. Ellis Avenue.

UChicago statement on Academic Honesty & Plagiarism: It is contrary to justice, academic integrity, and to
the spirit of intellectual inquiry to submit another’s statements or ideas as one's own work. To do so is
plagiarism or cheating, offenses punishable under the University's disciplinary system. Because these offenses
undercut the distinctive moral and intellectual character of the University, we take them very seriously. Proper
acknowledgment of another's ideas, whether by direct quotation or paraphrase, is expected. In particular, if any
written or electronic source is consulted and material is used from that source, directly or indirectly, the source
should be identified by author, title, and page number, or by website and date accessed. Any doubts about what
constitutes “use” should be addressed to the instructor.

Confidentiality: UChicago is committed to fostering a safe, productive learning environment. Title IX and our
school policy prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual misconduct — including harassment, domestic
and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking — is also prohibited at our school. The University encourages
anyone experiencing sexual misconduct to talk to someone about what happened, so they can get the support
they need and our school can respond appropriately. If you wish to speak confidentially about an incident of
sexual misconduct, want more information about filing a report, or have questions about school policies and
procedures, please contact our Title IX Coordinator. The University is legally obligated to investigate reports of
sexual misconduct, and therefore it cannot guarantee the confidentiality of a report, but it will consider a request
for confidentiality and respect it to the extent possible. As a teacher, I am also required by our school to report
incidents of sexual misconduct and thus cannot guarantee confidentiality. I must provide our Title IX
coordinator with relevant details such as the names of those involved in the incident.

Privacy Statement: During any possible hybrid learning, we may be using new (to this class) digital tools like
Zoom and Panopto to conduct some portions of the course. Neither I nor the University will be using these
platforms to collect or monitor your personal information. Respect for each other’s privacy should also be at the
forefront of our classroom comportment; no screenshots of virtual meetings, chat transcripts, or student work
should be shared beyond the scope of our class.

TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS:

(due dates may be updated through Canvas; Program of Creative Writing events noted here as well)
Thurs, Jan 9 – introduction to course, project, and schedule; discussion of poetic genre [read selected passages
from Jack Kerouac (On the Road), Allen Ginsberg (Wichita Vortex Sutra), CS Giscombe (Into and Out of
Dislocation), Gaston Bachelard (Poetics of Space), and Rebecca Solnit (Savage Dreams), links under Pages]

Tues, Jan 14, 2 PM – Information Session on the Creative Writing Major/Minor (Taft House 1st floor)

Thurs, Jan 16 – reconsideration of US Highway 1 as historically/geographically mapped space (read Muriel

Rukeyser, from The Book of the Dead; link under Pages); workshop of class writing

Thurs, Jan 23 – discussion of a poetic mapping of “the road east” as personal/social space (read Gabe Gudding,
from Rhode Island Notebook, link under Pages); introduction of final project and workshop of class writing

Thurs, Jan 30 – continued discussion of the road’s “I” (William Least Heat-Moon, from PrairyErth, and
Gudding continued, link under Pages); workshop of class writing

Thurs, Feb 6 – discussion of a poetic mapping of “the road west” as autobiographical/mythic space (read Ed
Roberson, MPH and Other Road Poems, pp. 1-80); workshop of class writing and introduction of final projects
as scheduled
Thurs, Feb 6, 5 PM – New Voices in Poetry Ron Offen Prize Reading with Jose-Luis Moctezuma (Logan 801)

Thurs, Feb 13 – discussion of the “postmodern road” and the “motorcycle poem” as genre (Roberson continued,
pp. 81-150); workshop of class writing and introduction of final projects as scheduled
Thurs, Feb 13, 5 PM – New Voices in Nonfiction with Justin St. Germain (Logan 801)

Thurs, Feb 20 – discussion of dislocation as impulse in the “road poem” (read CS Giscombe, from Giscome
Road); workshop of class writing and introduction of final projects as scheduled
Thurs, Feb 20, 5 PM – New Voices in Fiction with Cleo Qian (Logan 801)

Thurs, Feb 27 – discussion of Dorothea Lange’s work and “the road” as narrative (read Tess Taylor, Last West,
pp. 1-33); workshop of class writing and introduction of final projects as scheduled
Thurs, Feb 27, 5 PM – Phoenix Poets New Voices in Poetry with Kristin Dykstra (Logan 801)

Thurs, Mar 6 – reconsideration of a poetic mapping of “the road west” (Taylor continued, pp. 34-60); workshop
of class writing, introduction of final projects as scheduled, and course evaluations

Fri, Mar 14 – final projects/chapbook due; instructor will be available through office hours & via Zoom
during finals week for discussion of final projects/poems