No, Dear 2026 Workshop Series - October Edition: Against the Record: Generating Poems from the Legal Archive, facilitated by Joel Sedano. . . Monday, October 12, 7-9pm on Zoom . . . In a political moment marked by rapid production of legislative and bureaucratic documents, poets have access to an urgent, evolving archive that invites creative intervention. This workshop explores how legal texts, often experienced as opaque, violent, or disempowering, can be transformed into sites of poetic reimagination and resistance. Drawing on the tradition of documentary and archival poetics practiced by M. NourbeSe Philip, Patricia Smith, Tyehimba Jess, Claudia Rankine, and others, the session examines how poets repurpose legal and administrative language to expose power, critique institutional violence, and imagine alternative futures. This workshop will begin with a close reading of 2-4 examples of documentary poetics, grounding our discussion in questions of form, ethics, and method. Participants are asked to research and select their own legislative or legal documents to work with; however, a curated selection of texts will also be available for those who prefer guided entry points. The second half of the session will focus on generative writing exercises, with time for sharing and group feedback, so that participants leave with the beginnings of a draft as well as strategies for continuing this work beyond the workshop.