Into Greater Fields of Possibility Masterclass
There’s a lot happening globally – but let’s not give up on the world just yet.
Alice Walker wrote in the preface to her book Hard Times Require Furious Dancing that ‘though we have all encountered our share of grief and troubles, we can hold the line of beauty, form and beat – no small accomplishment in a world as challenging as this one.’ This course is an invitation to continue – in the midst of everything – to experiment, innovate and explore in order to expand our sense of what is possible.
We will be thinking with poets, philosophers, and scientists using inventive poetic forms as sources of inspiration and points of departure. We’ll criss-cross disciplines in search of innovative ideas to bring to new poems, diving headlong into the natural environments of botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer and spacetime odysseys of theoretical physicists Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and Carlo Rovelli who each write at the intersections of prose and poetry. We’ll explore invented forms from Magma 94, Remix and Poetry Wales 60.2. on poetic innovation. And more broadly, some of the poets and thinkers whose work will feature on this course include Nicole Sealey, Kandace Siobhan Walker, Sarah Howe, Danusha Laméris, Catherine-Esther Cowie, and more.
In this course we’ll consider poetry as yet another opportunity to remake the world and explore science, philosophy and experimental forms as means through which to write ourselves into greater fields of possibility.
5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks, starting 22 September 2026. No live chats. Suitable for 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: @marek-piwnicki
About Zakia Carpenter-Hall 
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Zakia Carpenter-Hall is an American writer, tutor, editor, and critic living in the UK. She was a winner of Poetry London’s inaugural mentoring scheme, a London Library Emerging Writer, and a Jerwood Bursary Recipient. Her poetry and reviews have both been published in Poetry Wales, Poetry Review, Wild Court, Magma, and elsewhere. She was on the editorial teams for Magma 82, Obsidian and Poetry Wales 60.2 and currently edits for Ink Sweat & Tears. Her poetry pamphlet Into the Same Sound Twice (Seren, 2023) is featured among TLC’s ‘Success Stories’. In addition to teaching at the Poetry School, she’s taught creative writing at Kingston University and Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s a current Poet in Residence with Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre’s ‘Loopholes and Boxes’ project commemorating the life and work of Harriet Jacobs. www.zakiacarpenterhall.com
"The Poetry School has become like my secret elixir that I take a spoonful of when I need some nourishment and inspiration."
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