In this online workshop for youth poets (ages 13-19), students will practice Freedom Dreaming. Freedom Dreaming brings us to a place where we can imagine the world we want to live in, where our identities thrive, where poetry can meet pain, sacrifice, joy and hope and always feel surrounded by courage and belonging. Where our words paint our portrait which in turn becomes a reflection of our world.

Through understanding and embracing Freedom Dreaming, youth poets write into existence the worlds they wish to inhabit, a world that believes in the fullness of story and the extravagant power of our individual and collective identities. Additionally, we will explore poetic translanguaging as a unique and empowering technique to capture the magnitude of expression that exists in the many languages and cultures within us.

Poets and poems we will study include:

• Jake Skeets, “America”
• Richard Blanco, “One Today” (excerpts)
• José Olivarez “i loved the world so i married it”
• Elizabeth Acevedo, “Hair”