Background: EcoRegions of Cascadia, Copyright © 2022 David McCloskey, Cascadia Institute; available from Feathered Star Productions.
POETICS AS COSMOLOGY CASCADIAN ZEN BASKET ONE: THE BUDDHA WAY
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for continuing participants in the online workshops facilitated by Cascadia Poetics Lab and Poetry Postcard Fest Co-Founder Paul E Nelson. Participate in reading and discussion of foundational essays, interviews, listening and other assignments, as well as spontaneous poetry composition exercises, in the second of two five week courses. This season we will be exploring passages from Cascadian Zen Vol 1 – Basket One: The Buddha Way. How can one’s poetics be a cosmology and maintain some experience of the Poetry Postcard Fest, to allow one’s life as a poet to rise in one’s personal hierarchy of duties/activities? $250 for each five week session per person, scholarships are available. Thursday nights, 3-5pm (February 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2024) by invitation only. Preference given to participants who wish to commit to both five-week sessions in the 2024 season.
Thursday Nights, 3-5 PM Pacific Time
February 1 – February 29, 2024
(February 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2024)
Link to purchase Cascadian Zen Volume 1
Zoom link: (to be announced)
Course Materials Week One
(Thursday, February 1, 2024, 3-5 pm PDT)
Summary: Cascadian Zen, Volume I, Basket I
Read: Pages 1-17 Cascadian Zen
Watch:
Daphne Marlatt making her essay presentation”Reflections on Poetics Composition…” This is also Daphne’s essay in the book, so if you read, watching the video is extra credit.
Listen:
Playlist: Balmer, Besson & More for 2024
READ: Walt Whitman Song of Myself, especially part 24
READ: World’s Ugliest Lawn
READ: Imbolc Info
WRITE: There are at least two writing exercises this week. One is for Imbolc, which is explained in the above article. Such pagan rituals are very helpful in connecting us to the land and seasons. Since Imbolc falls AFTER week 1, (Feb 1), you may want to set aside an hour or two this week to prepare for the DaySong ritual writing project. THE EXERCISE IS LINKED RIGHT HERE. It is best to do this on Feb 1, or 48 hours before or after. Go away, or kick the spouse out and get a cat-sitter. I am not kidding. Think of it as a writing spa day for YOU.
Another writing exercise idea, and this applies to ANY news articles ever linked in this course, is to write a poem based on an article in the way Joanne Kyger did on H.P. Blavatsky. She read HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helen Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement by Sylvia Cranston and then wrote THIS. You could do something similar, though shorter, on the Ugly Lawn story.
REPORT: As always, come with a 4-6 minute report and if you have a poem written from the exercises, you are welcome to put that into your report, but your thoughts, comments and questions about all this material are to be shared at that time during the 2 hour session.
Course Materials Week Two
(Thursday, February 8, 2024, 3-5 pm PDT)
Read: Pages 18-55 Cascadian Zen
Listen: Is Spring Here?
Read: Did you see the letter & response Skyler shared about an atheist & a prayer request?
Read: Updated Plant Hardiness Zones
Watch: A stand-up comedy bit on MINDFULNESS.
WRITE: Of course this is the week for your Imbolc DaySong. If you have questions or concerns, contact me.
WRITE: But you may also want to write a poem about your DaySong preparation. Use these RITUAL POEMS as examples/templates for a poem on how to prepare for a Imbolc DaySong.
Another writing exercise idea, and this applies to ANY news articles ever linked in this course, is to write a poem based on an article in the way Joanne Kyger did on H.P. Blavatsky. She read HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helen Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement by Sylvia Cranston and then wrote THIS. You could do something similar, though shorter, on the Updated Plant Hardiness story.
REPORT: As always, come with a 4-6 minute report and if you have a poem written from the exercises, you are welcome to put that into your report, but your thoughts, comments and questions about all this material are to be shared at that time during the 2 hour session. See you Sunday at 3pm PST.
Course Materials Week Three
(Thursday, February 15, 2024, 3-5 pm PDT)
READ: Cascadian Zen Volume 1: pages 54-88
READ: Weather Whiplash
WATCH: Joane Kyger in 1974 from “Trip Out and Fall Back.”
LISTEN: Miriam Nichols on Robin Blaser. ESPECIALLY parts 3 and 10.
WATCH: Cicada Part 1 (from CJ)
WATCH: Cicada Part 2 (from IG)
WRITE: A Cicada poem. Use material from the IG video, do your own research, write from your experience, start with cicadas and let the language transport you via associations or write a Dada Cicada poem. Yes, you can write a few lines about cidadas and print them up, cut them out and mix them up with lines from other texts, perhaps from events that happened in 1804, including, but not limited to Thomas Jefferson, morphine, Simón Bolivar, Haiti & Vietnam. Example of such a line to be thrown into a hat to mix with the last cicada synchronicity: “Aaron Burr fatally shoots Alexander Hamilton in a duel.” You may need to do some tweaking of the poem after all the lines come out of the hat. This is legal.
Another writing exercise idea, and this applies to ANY news articles ever linked in this course, is to write a poem based on an article in the way Joanne Kyger did on H.P. Blavatsky. She read HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helen Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement by Sylvia Cranston and then wrote THIS. You could do something similar, though shorter, on the WEATHER WHIPLASH story. Extra points if you can take an epigraph or include a line or two from the Kyger video. Starting at 5:49 there comes some real gold there.
REPORT: As always, come with a 4-6 minute report and if you have a poem written from the exercises, you are welcome to put that into your report, but your thoughts, comments and questions about all this material are to be shared at that time during the 2 hour session.
If you can’t access a news article, please let me know and I can cut & paste for you.
The playlists are almost entirely made up of spontaneous compositions. Listen to them to get your being into a mode that is open to improvisation. It can help. Thank you for your DaySongs and reports. FAIL LARGE is a good practice. We all have to get that out of the way somewhat. Taking on a DaySong is a HUGE effort. Don’t feel bad if you did not strike gold the first time, especially if you are new to the Projective/Organic method. It takes time.
Course Materials Week Four
(Thursday, February 22, 2024, 3-5 pm PDT)
READ: Cascadian Zen Volume I pp 89-129
Read: Real Housewives Carry Merce’s Ashes
Watch:
READ: Teaching Tanahesi
READ: Bernadette Mayer on Bloomsday
DO/WRITE: Ritual for a Dragon Year
Alternate Writing Exercise: Things to do in ________. Write a cover poem of this:
Another writing exercise idea, and this applies to ANY news articles ever linked in this course, is to write a poem based on an article in the way Joanne Kyger did on H.P. Blavatsky. She read HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helen Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement by Sylvia Cranston and then wrote THIS.
REPORT: As always, come with a 4-6 minute report and if you have a poem written from the exercises, you are welcome to put that into your report, but your thoughts, comments and questions about all this material are to be shared at that time during the 2 hour session.
Course Materials Week Five
(Thursday, February 29, 2024, 3-5 pm PDT)
READ: Cascadian Zen Volume I pp 97-135
Start with Part II of Jason Wirth’s essay. Note the passage:
“We are therefore not on the land but of the land. We are a living and
singular expression of the land that comprises us as right here, again and
again. How do we begin to find our place?
Watch: https://emergencemagazine.org/film/exit-238/ (Martin Migration)
Listen: Interview with Jason Wirth
Read: https://huntington.org/exhibition/betye-saar-drifting-toward-twilight
Read: Klamath Dam Removal
On Robin Blaser’s “Cups” from his biographer, editor and literary estate executor Miriam Nichols: “Hi Paul, I have a few pages on Cups in the bio (116–123), but you can think of it this way. The Cups suite of the Tarot – check out the Ace (the Cup is handed to you). On one level the series is autobiographical—Robin and Jack in San Francisco, Robin in the Idaho desert with family—on another, it is a haunted by some of the great narratives of western civilization—the Grail, for instance, fertility rites (Jesse Weston connects the Grail with pagan fertility), Dante’s Vita Nuova. Good luck with the workshop! 🙂 M
READ: Miriam Nichols on Cups
WRITE: What Are You Of?
Another writing exercise idea, and this applies to ANY news articles ever linked in this course, is to write a poem based on an article in the way Joanne Kyger did on H.P. Blavatsky. She read HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helen Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement by Sylvia Cranston and then wrote THIS. Maybe try the Klamath Dam story? Or this story about the murder of a trans kid. Please use caution. More info here.
REPORT: As always, come with a 4-6 minute report and if you have a poem written from the exercises, you are welcome to put that into your report, but your thoughts, comments and questions about all this material are to be shared at that time during the 2 hour session.