INSIGHTS | our sullen art: the poet after AI | a Poetry Ireland Masterclass
I was happy to accept an invitation from Poetry Ireland to host an INSIGHTS masterclass this autumn. 'our sullen art: the poet after AI,' my contribution to this occasional series, will take place on Thursday 16 October 2025, and bookings are now open.
INSIGHTS is Poetry Ireland's masterclass series, "led by some of the most respected voices in contemporary poetry in Ireland, and designed to support poets at all stages of their careers."
Places are limited. The session will take place online via Zoom, with participants able to join from anywhere. See basic information and masterclass description below as announced by Poetry Ireland, including booking link. Full details here.
Poet Christodoulos Makris hosts an online writing masterclass, our sullen art: the poet after AI, for poets at all stages of their careers on Thursday, 16th October.
Thursday 16 October 2025, 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Online (via Zoom)
Tickets: €25
About the Masterclass
How does the poet adapt to the advent of generative artificial intelligence, which is capable of instantly producing a 'publishable' or even 'award-winning' poem? Human thought and feeling may be extrapolated into linguistic expression increasingly convincingly, so what does the poet retain access to that the machine can't reach?
Perhaps we can learn something from how the visual arts developed following the advent of photography. Do poems become things that escape their established limits and expectations? Does the physical presence of the poet gain significance? Does process trump product? Is a hierarchical understanding of the artform sustainable? Do we continue operating within the confines of poetry as defined by tradition, while employing new technologies to explore non-linearity, hybridity, polyphony, arbitrariness? What is our 'personal language model' and how do we train it to make a poem?
Participants will be encouraged to reflect on these and related questions through exercises privileging the hyper-present as the space where poetry happens. All that's required is basic interest in contemporary poetry, accompanied by attention to and trust in poetic intuition, and a receptive approach to working with language as material.
Limited spaces, booking essential.
Comments