Poetics as Cosmology
(Intro to Spontaneous Composition)
A five week online (Zoom) workshop for people who have had a little experience in spontaneous poetry composition and want more. Join Cascadia Poetics Lab and Poetry Postcard Fest Co-Founder Paul E Nelson in a lively course designed to help you tap into deeper levels of knowing that can begin inform your non-writing life & reduce reliance on editing. Some theory to understand the poetics of 20th/21st c approaches to spontaneous composition, some writing exercises, discussion and between class homework. The work of Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, Michael McClure, Wanda Coleman, Nate Mackey, Robert Duncan, Robin Blaser and others may be discussed along with concepts such as seriality, & investigative poetics & how to write more by getting the most out of first drafts.
The course being offered in January 2023 will focus on the first 60 pages of Brenda Hillman’s new book In a Few Minutes Before Later.
FOR A 30% discount on Brenda’s book, add the code: q301.
All times PACIFIC.
Thursdays, 4-6pm PST, Jan 12, 19, 26, Feb 2 & 9, 2023. REGISTER FOR THURSDAYS HERE.
I think you can take a lot of credit for the fact that people were inspired to do great work in the class. There is something about the model that really works. You give people inspiring prompts and fire them up. But the group is not a “class” really. And that is good. In a class people are children. And that is sort of paralyzing. It is more of an organic community — of equals — so people are constantly getting inspired by each other. It is supportive, not competitive, and non-hierarchical. And you have an amazing capacity to listen to each person. I enjoy the workshops and the “family” but — most important — I keep coming back because the classes — and the rich poetry community you have created — keep me writing.
—Ann Graham Walker
Nanoose Bay, BC
1-NOV-2022
Oct 7, 2022
CLICK FOR MORE TESTIMONIALS
WEEK ONE, SUNDAY JAN 8 & THURS Jan 12 COURSE MATERIALS, LARFP & Poetics as Cosmology workshops:
LISTEN: Brenda Hillman Interview
(or WATCH HERE.)
READ: Forrest Gander Review
READ: From the dedication to page 12 in the book In A Few Minutes Before Later
LISTEN: Murraying playlist
READ: Nanao Sakaki, the Walking Poet (He would have been 100 January 1, 2023!) See also the Ginsberg blog post and this reading of a Nanao poem by Joanne Kyger.
READ: Retrospective on Yayoi Kusama’s seven-decade career
WRITE: YOU POEM, LOVE POEM
WEEK TWO, SUNDAY JAN 15 & THURS Jan 19 COURSE MATERIALS, LARFP & Poetics as Cosmology workshops:
READ: From page 13 to page 24 in the book In A Few Minutes Before Later
LISTEN: Mary Norbert Körte Interview
READ: Nate Mackey’s Long Song
READ: Anne Waldman Bard Kinetic Memoir
READ: Behind Argentina’s World Cup Magic: An Army of Witches
LISTEN: Paul & Bhakti’s Reception Playlist (During the Pretenders song you should sing along to the words “Baby, Sweetheart.)
WRITE: Unborn Poem Hillman, di Prima
WEEK THREE, SUNDAY JAN 22 & THURS Jan 26 COURSE MATERIALS, LARFP & Poetics as Cosmology workshops:
READ: From page 25 to page 37 in the book In A Few Minutes Before Later
LISTEN: Mary Norbert Körte Interview, Part 2
LISTEN: Stéphane Grappelli playlist
READ: This Shitty Essay
WRITE: Hillman-esque Activist Poem
WEEK FOUR, SUNDAY JAN 29 & THURS Feb 2 COURSE MATERIALS, LARFP & Poetics as Cosmology workshops:
LISTEN: Andrew Schelling on The Facts at Dog Tank Spring
EXPLORE: The Black Mountain College Museum Collection Plan on going there and spending an hour or more looking at things that interest you. Come back with at least one cool new find.
READ: From page 38 to page 47 in the book In A Few Minutes Before Later
READ: Pussy Riot
READ: Magic, Friends, Loyalty, Revolution about Anne Waldman (From Ingrid.)
READ: Bernadette Mayer’s “Memory.”
LISTEN: Sonic Perfume (Nate Mackey’s Double Trio A playlist with tunes and artists mentioned in Double Trio. Not likely to be used as background music!
WATCH: Richart see also THIS ARTICLE.
WRITE: SIBLING POEM
WEEK FIVE, SUNDAY Feb 5 & THURS Feb 9 COURSE MATERIALS, LARFP & Poetics as Cosmology workshops:
READ: From page 48 to page 61 in the book In A Few Minutes Before Later
LISTEN: Wendy Call on Irma Pineda
READ: The Most Dangerous Architect in America.
READ: Neo-Barroco: The Missing Group of the New American Poetry
READ: Walt Whitman’s Vigil
READ: About Walt’s vigil
WATCH: Rupert Spira on Fear & Ego
WRITE: Anno Uno Die aut septem
Bonus: Sunday, February 12, 2-4pm, Special Zoom Session with Brenda Hillman.
Brenda will read poems from In A Few Minutes Before Later and take questions. She says: “I’m particularly interested in discussing lines or poems in the book they’re curious about (form and writing questions) 🙏🌺🦉” Please come with a question or two for Brenda about certain lines in her work that interest you, or questions about form. You know the Zoom Room. This event is open to those enrolled in current LARPF and Poetics as Cosmology workshops and Founding Supporters of the Cascadia Poetics Lab.
For Poetics as Cosmology workshop participants, it would be helpful if you were familiar with these essays:
SOME NOTES ON ORGANIC FORM by Denise Levertov
PROJECTIVE VERSE by Charles Olson
THE PRACTICE OF OUTSIDE by Robin Blaser. (Also see my piece: Some Notes on the Practice of Outside.)
Creativity and the Fully Developed Bard by Ed Sanders
Investigative Poetry by Ed Sanders
Post Coyote Poetry by Andrew Schelling