Writing the Ineffable, Seeing the Invisible: Explorations of Metaphor, Imagery, and Erasure

How can we use metaphor to anchor the emotional weight and gravity of writing about the ineffable, whether that be poetry about love, grief, memory, or ghosts, these powerful abstractions that seemingly defy language itself? Consider the simple word “god” and its many permutations in writing: striking through certain letters, capitalization, alternate names, never speaking certain versions aloud. How can these various gestures become part of the poem itself? 

This workshop will explore uses of metaphor to sculpt our feelings and dreams and ground them in sensory information. Authors studied may include Alicia Ostriker, Paul Celan, and Bert Meyers. We will read and write together as we discover luminous invisible worlds.

We may also experiment with erasure poetry and discover hidden poems buried inside our own and others’ texts, similar to gematria, which reveals sacred, hidden messages inside the Torah.

Writing the Ineffable, Seeing the Invisible: Explorations of Metaphor, Imagery, and Erasure is the second iteration of the workshop Hadara taught at the Yetzirah Jewish Poetry Conference in June 2026! Join us for another session of community, connection, and personal exploration.

Hadara Bar-Nadav is the recipient of a NEA Fellowship, the Lucille Medwick Award from the Poetry Society of America, a fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and other honors. Her books include The Animal Is Chemical (Four Way Books, 2024), awarded the Levis Prize in Poetry; The New Nudity (Saturnalia Books, 2017); Lullaby (with Exit Sign) (Saturnalia Books, 2013), awarded the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize; and The Frame Called Ruin (New Issues, 2012), awarded the Margie Book Prize. A reader for Poetry Magazine, she is a professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

*Ticket Price: As we want our events to be accessible to all, our tickets are offered free of charge. Yet if you're able to donate—perhaps $18, or some multiple of 18, which in Jewish tradition signifies wishing long life and good luck to the recipient of the gift—all proceeds will go directly to supporting Yetzirah, making more events like this possible.

** If this fee is a hardship, Yetzirah offers a pay-what-you-can option for workshop participation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds, but please contact Program Coordinator Kyra Lisse at klisse@yetzirahpoets.org if you would like a sliding-scale ticket. 

Yetzirah is a nonprofit organization, and any gift you make is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.