Blues Poetry & The Cento

Four Tuesdays | November 4, 11, 18, and December 2 @ 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Phoenix Time

Blues Poetry & The Cento

Virtual with María Fernanda

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Blues poems have many forms. The first half of this poetry workshop considers various forms of the blues poem, both sonically and contextually. To honor the foundational contributions of blues women and femmes in music, generative writing exercises will be shaped by their song lyrics and poetry, alike. For the second half of the workshop, we will write “centos,” a poetry form named after the Latin word for garment pieces sewn together to create a patchwork. Writing exercises will specifically echo the African and African American traditions of quilting, also known as Nsaduaso or Kente. Participants will leave with two new poems. For further reading, I recommend one of my favorite books, author Daphne Duval Harrison’s Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s.

What to expect at a glance:

• A deep understanding of Latin American and African quilting traditions 
• A history of the blues poem in all its forms
• Two new poems

María Fernanda (she/hers) writes full time. Her work explores the intimacy of sisterhood, the anchor of intergenerational coexistence, and grief. Awarded The Norma Elia Cantú Award in Creative Writing, María Fernanda has received literary appointments from The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), The Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the DC Commission on the Arts.

A published contributor of the Library of Congress, María Fernanda has appeared as a guest speaker and moderator at MoMa PS1, Lincoln Center, and more. She is the founder of a poetry garden, where Black poets and gardeners discuss their creative and historic connections to gardens.

María Fernanda’s literary works appear in Cheryl Clarke's born in a bed of good lessons inspired by Lucille Clifton, Cave Canem's Dogbytes, and elsewhere. She opened for Nikky Finney as part of an anonymous submission pool. María Fernanda is a Callaloo fellow.