2026 Workshop Series: February

KleptoPoetics: Theft & Inspiration 
facilitated by Quinn Franzen
Monday, February 9, 2026
7-9pm EST
Zoom

REGISTRATION CLOSED

the workshop:

In this workshop, we’ll investigate the well-worn line between inspiration and poetic theft, and explore the ways that loving a poem deeply can fuel your own work. In considering “thieving forms” like the cento, the golden shovel, & iterative poetry (“Someday I’ll love Frank O’Hara/Roger Reeves/Ocean Vuong”), we’ll illuminate some of the principles of Kleptopoetics, and participate in the rich (anti-capitalist!) history of poets borrowing and transforming one another’s work. We’ll create new poetic experiments, using beloved poems as material for our own, yes, original work.

In the course of our time together we will read and discuss example works by Cameron Awkward-Rich, Terrance Hayes, Maggie Smith, Randall Mann, Simone Muench, and others. We’ll also, of course, engage with the critical question of how we know we’ve gone far enough — how can we be sure we’ve crossed the border where a theft becomes a work with its own integrity?

the facilitator:

Quinn is an O’ahu-raised actor, poet, and new dad. He has poems published or forthcoming in POETRY Magazine, Adroit Journal, Pleiades, Bat City Review, Barrelhouse, No Dear, and elsewhere. A Poetry Editor at Bear Review, he received his MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. He has received support from Tin House, Community of Writers, and Brooklyn Poets. His acting work can be seen on TV, on- and off-Broadway, and in regional theaters across the country. Quinn lives in Brooklyn.

Check out Quinn’s poem, “Midnight Snack as an A24 Body Horror Film,” in Issue 30: POSITION!