#  English CAJM. Documentary Poetry and Buried American Archives 

 



Instructor: Saeed Jones  
Thursday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBD  
*Enrollment: Limited to 15 students*  
  
As former US Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway writes "I know now that if we choose / to keep any part of what is behind us, / we must take all of it..." This creative writing workshop will explore documentary poetry as means of interrogating America's adversarial relationship to its own history. How does art enable us to "take all of it" especially the aspects of history dominant narratives usually abandon or suppress? For example, what impact does racial weathering have on mental and physical health? And, how has the toll of such weathering been inherited and passed down by generations of immigrants, indigenous people, and people of color in the United States? How has our country's development benefited from exploitation of labor? What is the enduring trauma of Manifest Destiny?

Students will approach these questions and more from two directions: (1) we will read and discuss books from a wide array of poets who have used their work as means of historical inquiry, and (2) we will write and workshop poems inspired by their work, invoking different forms and styles to unearth America's buried archive. This workshop will emphasize a development of craft, literary and historical analysis, as well as research.  
  
This course is also offered through the Harvard Medical School as MMH 736.



 



 

 See also:- [ 2026-27 ](/academic-year/2026-27)
- [ Poetry ](/course-topic/poetry)
- [ Creative Writing Workshops ](/course-type/1-creative-writing-workshops)
- [ Course ](/page-type/course)
- [ Spring 2027 ](/term/spring-2027)