School
for
Poetic
Computation
How can we write with and against technology?, ,In this generative poetry workshop, we’ll explore what is typically “unpoetic,” such as our daily interactions with things like digital tools, personal computers, or online systems, and use what emerges as material for making poems that account for everyday life and the contemporary self and perhaps use the language of browsers, apps, widgets, malware and more to make poems that critique techno-capitalist empire. No experience needed; just an open mind!
No classes on Tuesday, June 30 and Thursday, July 2, 2026.
Page Against the Machine is a generative poetry workshop. As a class, we’ll use the ever-expanding language of modern-day technologies: browsers, screens, buttons, widgets, apps, tubes, gadgets, levers, platforms, scrolling, trolling, software, malware, clouds and other technologies to write poetry.
Students are invited to embark on a writing process or project that mines the computational for what is poetic, centers seemingly mundane interactions with everyday technologies, and critiques techno-capitalist empire. We’ll read a wide variety of different theorists and poets, including but not limited to Karen Brodine, Allison Parrish, Sara Ahmed, Amy D’eath, Tracy Fuad, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Harryette Mullen, Maxe Crandall, Alyssa Moore, Solmaz Sharif, Tilghman Goldsborough, Henri Lefebvre, William Carlos Williams, Stephon Lawrence, and more.
Students can expect to read, discuss, and write in roughly equal proportions. Plan to spend two to three hours a week reading assigned texts, watching assigned videos, and writing.
Students of all skill-levels are invited to apply, beginner’s minds welcome.
Laptop with webcam, smart device with audio player and camera, headphones, writing materials (e.g. journal, tablet, or text processing software)
This class may be for you if you:
This class may NOT be for you if you:
Ariel Yelen is the author of the book of poems I Was Working (Princeton University Press), selected by the New York Public Library as a Top Ten Book of 2024. Her poems can be found in the Baffler, Social Text, BOMB, and elsewhere. She received a 2023-2024 Creative & Performing Arts Fulbright to Greece. She's taught poetry and interdisciplinary courses for Poetry Society of America, Columbia School of the Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers New Brunswick, and elsewhere. As a former editor for the NYC-based publishing collaborative Futurepoem Books, she founded their digital space futurefeed. She lives and works in New York City.
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Margot Armbruster is a writer, editor, educator, and SFPC alum based in Brooklyn. Margot has worked as a researcher, writer, community organizer, and musician at The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, the National Humanities Center, Yale University Press, SFPC, and elsewhere, most recently at a Manhattan-based educational media company. Margot's writing appears in The Guardian, USA Today, Belt Magazine, and The Adroit Journal, among other outlets, and focuses on music, math, linguistics, philosophy, disability, and prayer. Margot earned a B.A. in English and Political Theory at Duke University, where they picked figs and took long walks in the campus gardens.
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Applications open until Applications closed on April 27, 2026.
You can expect to hear back from us about the status of your application on May 11, 2026. Please email us at admissions@sfpc.study with any questions you have.
For 5 classes, it costs $750 + processing fees, for a one-time payment. We also offer payment plans. Participants can schedule monthly payments of the same amount. First and last payments must be made before the start and end of class. *Processing fees apply for each payment.
SFPC processes all payments via Withfriends and Stripe. Please email admissions@sfpc.study if these payment options don't work for you.
For more information about what we look for in applicants, scholarships, and other frequently asked questions, please visit our applicant FAQ.
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