A School of
Awkward Genius
Poetry and the Philosophy of Disruptive Excellence
STOP PLAYING SMALL
AND START PLAYING WITH YOUR OWN
STRANGE BRILLIANCE
Excellent & Imperfect
No Holds Poetics does not coddle. You come here to achieve mastery, not to blend in, play safe, or perfect the same old techniques.
Risk-taking & bombast over polished MFA veneer
Memetic & Magnetic
Poetry has been locked in obscurity for decades: exclusive, uninteresting and inaccessible to the general population
Our mission is to create works that transcend academia and reach out to the broader population ~ Groundbreaking, Magnetic, and Inevitable
Unsympathetic
Too often poets rush to flaunt, perfect, and aggrandize but great poetry works because it reveals something difficult, hidden, raw, and generally not talked about. It is the place where we can see our own ugliness revealed in another and discover that we are not alone in our darkness.
Earn a certificate or cherry pick your course of choice
Either way you’re coming out of this a better poet
Your Instructor
Robin Richardson is a controversial Canadian Poet, outspoken about her forays with madness and her uncloaked ambition.
She was the founder and chief editor at Minola Review, a safe haven for women writers. Her Collection Sit How You Want took home the Trillium Book and Relit Awards. She holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawerence where she was the recipient of the Joan T Baldwin and John B. Santoianni Awards. She is also a MacDowell, Burton House, and Doris McCarthy Fellow
Known for concise and unflinching work that sits in the dark corners of the human condition and distills into beauty what so many turn away from in fear. Read her essay in The Unsympathetic Voice in Poetry
Robin has over 15 years of experience teaching and publishing. She will not hold your hand, but she will hold you to a standard that unlocks hidden genius while the old self turns to goop and fuels your rise
You're brilliant. Thank you so much for your comments. I felt really rigid about the whole thing, editing these poems felt like trying to smooth wet cement into pavement with my hands. Your notes gave me perspective -- I know that through incorporating them, on top of deepening the poems themselves, I will learn to be a better poet. I've been going through them all afternoon, thinking about different ways to apply your advice.
- Willow
T E S T I M O N I A L S
“I feel utterly emptied and rejuvenated. That was absolutely life-changing. Perfect timing, and your guidance was invaluable. I love feeling so empowered and focused on what to do next. Thank you thank you thank you”
Anne-lise Jasinski
Thank you so much for your work! I’m so grateful that the universe put you in my path.
Andy_96
My closest friends and family members reap the benefits of all your guidance and shared experience. It’s like a ripple in a pond and it reaches so far! -
Abigayl Medina