Description
Welcome to Button University!
Sign up today for Ollie Schminkey’s 2026 Multi-Week Workshop!
Author of the poetry collections DEAD DAD JOKES, WHERE I DRY THE FLOWERS, and DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE BAD
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Bad: A Write-Along Workshop
In this four-week generative workshop, Ollie Schminkey will guide you through a variety of prompts from their new prompt book, Don’t Be Afraid to Be Bad. We’ll talk about what makes an effective “after” poem, how to properly credit our work, and how to find writing inspiration in all kinds of places. Most of all, we’ll enjoy writing in community with one another and exploring new poetic ideas, forms, and styles. By the end of this workshop, you should have eight new drafts (we’ll write two poems per class) to continue on with as you see fit.
Ollie aims for all of their classes to be actively non-competitive, non-judgemental, pro-diversity, anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ, and fun! You can expect a collaborative environment, a flexible approach to poetry, and (hopefully) a good laugh per class.
Beginners are welcomed and encouraged! Experienced folks are welcomed and encouraged! Everyone is welcomed and encouraged!
Note: Poems in this workshop will cover a wide variety of themes, some of which contain mature content and may be activating for some participants.
Pick your class day and time:
Sundays in October
2:00pm CT | Oct 03 – Oct 24, 2025
Class Length: 4 weekly sessions
Class Duration: 2 hours via Zoom
Previous Workshops with Ollie Schminkey
Good Grief: Writing Poems About Loss (w/ Ollie Schminkey)
In this six-week workshop series, you’ll join Dead Dad Jokes and Where I Dry the Flowers author Ollie Schminkey in an exploration of ways that we can write about grief. You’ll gain skills for using poetry as a processing tool, as well as tips for how to edit poems about grief and loss that you might want to share with audiences or readers.
This series will approach grief and loss from a wide variety of angles, including structure, form, and even, at times, humor. You’ll get plenty of practice writing with exercises, including specifically tailored writing prompts that we will complete each week in-class. You’ll learn from the best, studying contemporary poets like Siaara Freeman, Sam Sax, and Natasha T. Miller. At the end of this course, you’ll have at least 6 new poems and perhaps an expanded idea about what writing about grief can look like.
Note: If you are gifting a Button U workshop, you MUST enter the recipient’s email address into the “Gift Message” field while checking out.
Have questions? Visit the Button Workshop FAQ page or contact support@buttonpoetry.com
About Ollie Schminkey
Ollie Schminkey (they/them) has spent the past decade coaching, mentoring, teaching classes, and running workshops for poets. They were the winner of the 2024-25 Palette Previously Published Poem Prize, and their work has been featured everywhere from Poets.org… MORE
