What Makes a Poem Memorable?
Reading for Craft · Revising for Resonance
A Two-Part Craft Tutorial with Richard Blanco
October 24 & November 1, 2026
Part One: October 24, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. ET
Part Two: November 1, 11:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. ET
$110 per person for both sessions
Limited to 15 participants
What makes a poem memorable?
In this two-part craft tutorial, I invite you to look closely at the poems that stay with us long after they are read, and to explore the craft choices that give them their particular power. What makes a poem unforgettable? Through close reading and conversation, we’ll examine how poems create an emotional experience and how image, language, line breaks, structure, voice, metaphor, and other poetic elements work together to create a poem’s distinctive impact.
Together, we’ll consider what might be called a poem’s “X-factor”—the quality that makes a poem feel alive, surprising, resonant, or difficult to forget. Rather than trying to reduce poetry to a formula, we’ll develop a deeper awareness of the craft choices that make a poem memorable and put those discoveries into practice as we revise our own work.
Part One: Reading & Exploring Craft
We’ll begin with a poetry packet featuring selected poems for close reading and discussion. Together, we’ll explore the craft techniques that shape each poem’s emotional experience and ask what makes a poem stay with us.
Participants will then select a poem of their own that they believe is good but would like to strengthen. Using the ideas and techniques explored during the session, they’ll begin revising their poem and bring the revised draft to Part Two.
Part Two: Revising for Resonance
In the second session, participants will workshop their revised poems, applying what they discovered in Part One.
Through close reading and group discussion, we’ll consider what is essential to each poem’s emotional and imaginative experience, what might be missing, and where the poem’s energy can be strengthened. We’ll explore how thoughtful revision can bring a poem closer to its fullest expression.
The goal is not simply to make a poem “better,” but to help it shine—to become more precise, resonant, alive, and memorable.
Workshop Format
• Close reading and discussion of selected poems
• Exploration of poetic elements and craft techniques
• Discussion of how poems create an emotional experience
• “Aha” moments and discoveries about craft
• Guided revision of participants’ own poems
• Workshop of revised poems in Part Two
This workshop is open to poets at all levels.
Before the Workshop
Approximately one week before Part One, participants will receive a poetry packet with selected poems to read in advance. The poems are intended simply to familiarize participants with the material before the session.
Participants will also be invited to bring a memorable poem by another poet of their own choosing to the discussion and share a link with the group.
After Part One, participants will receive the session recording and the Zoom link for Part Two.
Preparing for Part Two
Participants should bring a poem they believe is good but would like to strengthen through revision.
Revised poems must be submitted by Thursday, October 29 at midnight ET to workshops@richard-blanco.com. Poems will then be shared with the group on Friday in preparation for the November 1 revision workshop.
