“This has been an extraordinary eight weeks of intensive and hugely helpful poetry immersion, that has given me the impetus and confidence to move forward into more poetry and prosody studies. You were the first of various instructors, teachers, workshop leaders, and mentors I’ve studied with to have been clear and direct enough to really take your students into the how and why, the nitty-gritty and the strategies needed to move a poem from simply words on a page to something alive and leaping!   I’m grateful to my fellow workshop members as well, and thank you for sharing your fantastic work and supportive comments.”

“I am so grateful for this class on so many levels...an extraordinary course that not only shares your invaluable knowledge about craft, language, and poetics; but, we have become our own unique community. Reading all of my cohorts’ wonderful poems and listening to the generous insights has added a great deal to my understanding of what makes a poem work. And the guest poets, each with their own slant, just incredible.”

“I’ve learnt so much – particularly, thank you for letting me ask about your own process this week – I was smiling throughout because it resonated greatly with me and was helpful! (Thank you also for thoughtfully scheduling me earlier because of time zone issues.) Finally, I liked the way Rusty would clarify points with the speaker if it wasn’t clear for the benefit of all participants, or remind about certain things such as making sure the sessions were recorded; and how David would always double-check to make sure a question was answered (‘Did that answer your question?’). These little things made a huge difference to me.”

“It’s been a great ride, enlivening and empowering, not to mention humbling—I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know. I especially appreciate the collegial, we’re-all-in-this-together atmosphere and deep permission to take risks and fumble and explore the depths...”

“What you have provided is unlike that of any writing class I’ve taken. I feel very lucky to have found this class. It’sbeen extremely helpful, and though it has by nature been brief, I know I’m a much better poet from consideringwhat you’ve said as I try to apply that to my current and future work. It’s a great service—to keep Donald Justice’swork alive for all poets lucky enough to discover this class, as well as the extra insight that you bring. For me it wasa great opportunity to approach poetry in a new and more effective way. Since your class, when I’m not sure whereto go with a poem in process, I start thinking prosodically and doors open.”

“Omnidawn’s online “Prosody & Revision” course offered me new strategies to break the chain of patterned methods of composition and revision in my poems. Most significantly, the course offered me a leg up and into material related to family trauma that I had thought previously impenetrable. Looking at my poems through the lens of prosody was invaluable, which is to say important for my development as a poet, and equally important, it was fun! To study poetry with David Koehn, Rusty Morrison, the weekly amazing guest poets, and the course’s students is to be welcomed into a most special community. Take this course; you know you want to!”

“It was a wonderful and very productive experience.  Many thanks to David for sharing his love and experience with prosody—it has been eye and ear opening.  To both David and Rusty for thoughtful, clear, and constructive feedback every week.  That takes a lot of work.  And the resources we are taking with us is an entire library of challenging thinking.  

The guest poets were extraordinary, with so many new (to me) ways to consider writing from sound and surprise.  After Jericho Brown’s lecture, I felt I had access to a whole new way of approaching writing.     And there were so many fascinating concepts about sound from all the guest poets. I’m grateful to all the attendees for submitting work that inspires greater effort on my part. This was such an impressive and accomplished group—Congratulations to all of you!  I will be interested to read more of your work and to follow your continued successes. And likewise, hope to cross paths again. ”

“The prosody material was challenging, insightful, and the guest lecturers exceptional. I’ve taken a lot of workshops but this is the first time one of the instructors received a Pulitzer Prize during the class.”

““I took this class to invigorate my writing practice and to produce new and varied work. Thank you.  This was just what I needed. “ ”

“This class opened up what was missing for me in writing poetry— music of language. The course material and both of their attention to detail and the intention behind the course are all true gifts you’ve given us. I feel like I’m about to finally be able to figure out how to make my poems fly with my new basic knowledge in prosody and my interest now to learn more about it.   Thank you *all* so so so much. It’s been a blessing to have this course in my life the last few weeks for so many reasons. The pandemic had prosody for me.”

“I want to thank you David for the very best poetry workshops I have ever attended. The instruction was learned, thoughtful, and original. The critiques were insightful, specific, and respectful. I have benefited greatly over the eight weeks of the session, producing four new poems that I am more or less satisfied with. The Omnidawn sessions will stick with me. Please extend my thanks to David.”

“Prosody & Revision was amazing. I feel a bit guilty I didn’t have to pay for a graduate school class for this. The class was worth it for the materials alone. It would be hard to find better mentoring than the combination of David Koehn’s encyclopedic and precise knowledge of the tools of craft and Rusty Morrison’s unfailing (while compassionate) eye for what sings in a poem. All within an inspiring and supportive group. This class made merethink my approach to my work, and for that I am truly grateful. The class was terrific—I am sure I didn’t even scratch the surface of what is there to learn.”

“I want to express my appreciation and gratitude for the prosody workshop experience. I was awed by the precision, insight, and care that both Rusty and David modeled in their feedback/responses, as well as in their presentations of the guest poets. I appreciated the diversity of approaches, styles, and opinions of our extended group (incl. the guest poets). It has been so rewarding and enriching. Thank you for all you do for poets and poetry.”

“Using what I learned in the workshop, I have rewritten many poems in my new poetry manuscript. I was especially taken by the prophetic exercise you came up with and the good feedback I received from Arthur Sze, Gillian Conoley, Forrest Gander, Rusty Morrison and you. I also came away from the workshop with several new completed poems. I feel that whether you are writing lyric, formal, narrative, experimental, or free verse, the Omnidawn workshops give you a very effective method for creating and revising your work. I just wanted to tell you what a valuable experience I had at the workshop, and it continues to inform my writing.”

“Breaking the Bowl helped me to expand my view of poetic form from beyond the familiar to encompass song, everyday speech, aspects from other cultures as well as invented forms—that really, there is no limit beyond one’s imagination. I found this workshop to be incredibly helpful for me, as a poet, to find the right container for my own individual music. I am grateful for the guest poets’ insights, as well as Rusty Morrison’s and David Koehn’s generous feedback.”

“Like the ad for the Barbie movie: If you love writing poetry in form, this is for you. If you hate writing poetry in form this is for you. The course Breaking the Bowl, offered by Omnidawn is a wonderful experience, with poets who are masters at their respective forms without rigidity, and with an incredible flexibility that only helps enhance the meaning of the forms studied. David Koehn gives a marvelously supple and modern interpretation with suggestions for flipping the form without making it unrecognizable and he and Rusty Morrison provide generous, helpful feedback. Breaking the Bowl is an exhilarating experience that will help you love poetry more and craft it with more style and thought. I highly recommend.”

“Sometimes formal poems are best when written slant—the imperfections, like those in the Japanese story about the broken bowl, make the poems more compelling, more weirdly beautiful. David Koehn, team-tagged by Rusty Morrison, used the tanka, sonnet, pantoum and villanelle in last year’s workshop to encourage us to take risks we might not have taken without these structures as sounding boards. I found the workshop invaluable in freeing my own work. Each workshop featured a craft talk by one of the best poets writing today. The generosity of these poets in opening up their own bag of experience and sharing it with us made a big impression on me—and gave an indication of Omnidawn’s importance in poetry land.”

“Breaking the Bowl creates a stimulating and nurturing environment for study and experimentation. I learned the value of sticking close to a form and extracting structural elements for a (sometimes invisible) scaffolding for my own non-traditional poems—which veered off in directions of their own. David, Rusty, and Laura are a delight to work with, and the visiting poets are generous in their attention to the group. ”

“Weekly assignments challenged me to expand and reconcile my preconceived notions of freedom and restraint, form and content, raw energy and refinement...David Koehn encouraged me to explore new poetic terrain and provided a positive, nurturing space to share poems and ideas. In the end, this course inspired me to be a bolder poet, to take more risks and playfully engage with language.”

“Go beyond your intentions. That is where the scaffolding of poetic constraints can lead… After many years of workshoping in universities, I joined Omnidawn’s “Prosody & Revision” to challenge my manuscript outside the traditional workshop setting…. David Koehn, Rusty Morrison, and the workshop’s students strengthened my work…push[ing] my work into unexpected directions.”