Between Magic & Camouflage: Dressing up your Poems Studio

Unpicking the threads; explore your writing wardrobe and dress up your poems with Sue Burge.

What we wear can be decorative, political, rebellious, conformist, seductive… Clothes give us information about class, rank, gender, era, occupation and activity. They can be subversive, nostalgic, frustrating and beguiling. Clothes are both works of art and utilitarian, to be preserved from moths and creases. They are increasingly connected with concerns about climate change and exploitation.

This workshop will examine different aspects of what we wear and why, from clothes-lines to chorus-lines. We will explore how references to items of clothing can create further imaginative layers in our poetry, and how, as a focus/theme, they can veil, disguise or expose our poetic intentions. As well as a wide range of example poems, including Kim Addonizio, Seamus Heaney, Victoria Kennefick, Jen Hadfield, Alison Ballantyne, Saeed Jones, and Robert Pinsky, we will also use film-stills to discover how costume can create personas and alter egos.

Edith Head, Paramount’s highly respected costume designer, stated that clothes were “between magic and camouflage”; Charlie Chaplin found his character of the Little Tramp by experimenting with clothing and Hitchcock even insisted on having an “off screen” wardrobe designed for his leading ladies as he strove to construct the perfect blonde. And who can hear the words “Audrey Hepburn” without visualising a little black dress?

Studios are 4-week intensive courses. Reading material will be distributed before the course begins. There are no live chats so they are suitable for both UK & International students.

Concessions & Accessibility

To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].

What to Expect

Please check the left hand side of this page for information on how this course works in practice, under the heading ‘Course Style‘. If you’re unsure as to what any of the terms there mean, or if this course is a good fit for you, please visit our What to Expect page which includes some further information on how our courses function.

Image credit: @paulglucaci

About Sue Burge View Profile

Sue Burge is a freelance tutor, mentor and editor based in Norfolk. She is also a film-studies tutor with a penchant for silent film, road movies and David Lynch. Her poems have been published in a wide range of journals and feature in themed anthologies on science fiction, modern Gothic, illness, Britishness, endangered birds, WWI, and Laurel and Hardy. Her first pamphlet, Lumière (2018 Hedgehog Poetry Press) explores Paris’s cinematic and literary legacy; her second pamphlet, The Saltwater Diaries (Hedgehog Poetry Press) was published in 2020. She has three collections out with Live Canon: In the Kingdom of Shadows, Confetti Dancers, and The Artificial Parisienne. The latter examines her edgy on-going relationship with Paris. Her eco-angst collection, watch it slowly fade, was published by Yaffle Press in July 2025. www.sueburge.co.uk

"The Poetry School continues to provide a wealth of inspiring poetry courses - all of which have the best tutors and are completely accessible and inclusive."

– Summer 2025 survey response