Swimming in Style in July-Zoom Link

Photo by Trac Vu on Unsplash

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s Swimming in Style session, July 19, 11:00 am Pacific Time, where we’ll look closely at a powerful paragraph from Kent Haruf’s Plainsong. Though his prose is often labeled “simple” or “plain,” a closer read reveals something far more nuanced and quietly artful.

This paragraph unfolds like a confession—a moment of truth withheld—and we’ll unpack the techniques that give it such quiet force. We’ll explore the role of rhythm and sound, the muscularity of polysyndeton, the shift from the intimate to the expansive, the weight of fragments, syntactic symbolism, and how prepositional phrases can do double duty: building description and carrying the rhythm forward.

Come ready to write! I can’t wait to see what you make!

If you can’t make it, I’ll send the recording. If you’re not a paid subscriber but would like to join, you can do so for as little as $6 per month.