Get Going on Showing: October 8, 2026

This course is currently full. Join the list to hear first when I run it again.

"Show, don't tell" is the most common advice new poets get. Almost nobody explains how.

Thursday 8 October 2026 · 12:30–2:00pm ET (9:30–11am PT, 5:30–7pm UK)

The last four runs of this series sold out, and places are limited to 15.

Showing is the tool that pulls readers into a poem and makes them care.

Think of an artist painting an apple. They can't just write the word "Apple" on the canvas and expect us to be impressed. They have to use their skill to make us see it.

Poetry works the same way. When you use the tools of showing, the reader doesn't merely understand your poem — they see it, feel it, and share it. That's the difference between words on a page and something that lands.

In this workshop we'll cover the most important ways of showing:

• Painting scenes and images that bring a poem alive

• Finding metaphors and similes that add meaning, not just description

• Making word choices that carry layers of ideas

• Building small stories that reveal

• Simple ways poetic form itself can help you show.

You'll put them to work in the session, with a process to follow so the writing starts easily.

You'll leave with a draft of your own and the tools to take a poem from mere words to art.

Taking all three classes in the series costs $100 instead of $120. See the full series here.

"Everything I was hoping for — and then some. I especially enjoyed the 'processes' you recommended as we took time to write. You made it fun, yet still richly thoughtful." — D. S., PA, 2026

"Three of my poems have been selected for an anthology. I'm quite shocked and very pleased that I just went for it and submitted. Your workshops were the start of any 'formal' learning for me, and I'm grateful for the input you gave me as I continue my poetic adventure." — L. A., UK, 2026

What to expect

• Live on Zoom, 12:30–2:00pm ET (9:30–11am PT, 5:30–7pm UK)

• Limited to 15 people

• Sharing your work is always optional — there is no critique, and nobody gets put on the spot

• Can't attend live? Every class is recorded, and the recording is yours to keep indefinitely

• No experience or preparation needed — just come ready to write

Your teacher: Brian Evans-Jones

I've been teaching poetry since 2005 — at three universities, in dozens of schools as a visiting Teaching Artist, and to hundreds of adults through my own workshops. I was Poet Laureate of Hampshire, UK, in 2012–13, and I won the Maureen Egen Award from Poets & Writers in 2017.

But it took me 14 years to get my first poem published, and 23 to win my first competition. For most of that time I felt the way you might be feeling now: overwhelmed by how much there was to learn, unsure whether anything I wrote was any good, and with no idea what to do next.

What changed it was good teaching. I studied with Charles Simic, David Morley, and others, and they gave me the skills and the confidence I'd been missing for two decades. These workshops are my way of passing some of that on — without the years of study it took me to get it.

This course is currently full. Join the list to hear first when I run it again.