Lie Your Ass Off: A Poetry Workshop With Michael Haeflinger

There’s an art to lying in poetry. In this workshop, participants looked at instances of hyperbole and interpretation, but also at examples of flat-out making stuff up in service of a great poetic Truth. Under the tutelage of poet and educator Michael Haeflinger, participants wrote poem drafts examining notions of truth and fiction.  Hit play below to dive into the workshop and hear what Haeflinger had to say about lies and truths in poetry!

Note: To save on space and time, we’ve cut out the introductions for this workshop. The video begins the initial pre-writing exercise.

About the Facilitator

Originally from the Midwest, Michael Haeflinger is the author of Low Static Rage (2019) and two chapbooks, Love Poem for the Everyday (2011) and The Days Before (2014), both from Dog On A Chain Press. In 2016, he released Let’s Don’t Be Crazy, a spoken word and music album. He is the recipient of the Rutgers-Camden Award for Community Engagement (2013), The Amocat Award for Community Engagement (2017), and a Tacoma Arts Initiative Program Award (2015). He is the Executive Director for Write253, a literary arts organization in Tacoma, WA.