coaching & consultations

I’ve been professionally teaching poetry for 10 years, and in that time I’ve taught in kindergarten and college classrooms, coached slam teams and led weekly workshops (always, for whatever unknowable reason, on Wednesdays). In every setting, I’m left wishing I’d had the time to individually focus on each person — I try to offer free office hours to all of my students (schedule allowing), but those are still limited in terms of time and scope. If you’ve ever taken a class with me, you know there’s nothing more that I love than to talk poetry, so let’s have the poetry we talk about be yours.

Here are some things I am eagerly available to do:

  • help you identify where you’re at right now, where you want to go, and what the next step is to get there

  • review your MFA application (both sample and statement of purpose)

  • develop an artistic practice independent of your relationship to institutions

  • generate weekly prompts tailored to your goals/interests

  • provide custom reading lists chosen similarly

  • give feedback on packets of poems

  • generate ideas for developing manuscripts based on the poems you have and themes you’re interested in pursuing

  • push past writer’s block

  • provide accountability and structure

  • discuss anything you’d like about the poet life — process, publication, MFAs, finding and/or creating community, etc.

Here are some things I am less interested in doing:

  • full-length manuscript consultations
    (I don’t have one yet, I’m not qualified!)

  • working with highly metered or “traditional” poetry (again, I’m unqualified)

okay, but how much?

Whatever combination of the above you’re interested in, everything starts with a one-hour Zoom meeting for $100.

… But here’s the thing: I’m not about pricing people out of poetry. If you can afford to pay more than $100, anything is appreciated! If you can’t swing $100, though (and I'm not going to make you "prove" anything, I'm not an institution), I can go down to $50.

In preparation for this first meeting, I’m willing to read up to 10 pages of poetry with discussion in mind. Please do not expect extensive written feedback, though you will likely receive at least some: my boundlessly neurodivergent brain far prefers to discuss poems verbally than to write about them. We 100% won’t have time to address all 10 pages in just an hour, but we’ll give it a jolly good try.

testimonials

"Working with Jaz reminds me of why I love poetry. She's a coach and teacher who sincerely enjoys both the craft and the process of helping others find their voice in it. She has a bottomless well of enthusiasm for, knowledge of, and insight into the work, and she's been able to highlight and nurture everything in my poetry that is honest, electrifying, and necessary."

— Zach Goldberg, Minneapolis, MN, author of the collection I’d Rather Be Destroyed

“Jaz is an inspiring, generous, and thoughtful teacher. I took Poetics of Trauma with her, and I did some of my best writing to date under her guidance. She has a rare gift for naming what’s working in a poem while also pointing to areas that could grow, always in a way that feels kind, concrete, and clear. Her prompts, questions, and feedback pushed me to go deeper and take risks in my writing, and I left her class with work I felt truly proud of. It was an absolute gift to learn from her.”

— Jess Jardine-Lynch, Brooklyn, NY

"Jaz is an exceptional teacher and mentor. Generous as a reader and with her time, she is also a very sharp mind and just a delight to be around. Her feedback was so consistently helpful. She can tease out what is beautiful in a mostly so-so poem and can help fine-tune a piece that is already really solid. I feel so lucky to have worked with her."

— Alex Baskin, Cambridge, MA, author of the chapbook I wake up tangled in pillows and sheets

“Jaz is a brilliant teacher, thinker, and above all, a truly kind and thoughtful human being. Before I took a class with her I was already a huge fan of her poetry.  In her classes, she creates a community of learning where I felt so safe to share and write about traumatic events, without judgment. Not only that, Jaz is affirming and a staunch supporter of every student in the class, challenging us to lead with our hearts and unabashed honesty. In her classes, I learned to lean into and celebrate the discomfort and the disquiet. The poetry she introduced us to was always mind blowing. What I particularly appreciated was her highlighting poets on the margins and her extensive feedback. As a person, she is more than relatable, attentive, kind and fierce in how she advocates for you to see yourself as a poet. I left every class feeling energized and beyond excited for the following week. That’s why I’m a return student and will take every class she offers. Her pedagogy is unparalleled and I am so grateful for her.”

— Ghassan Moussawi, Chicago, IL