What kind of writing emerges if we accept that no stable boundary separates the human from the nonhuman: that our existence is a coexistence? What kind of writing does this dynamic equilibrium with the world of animals, fungi, plants, and all other self-organized systems call for? How does one write in a way that acknowledges that the free-living aerobic bacteria that long ago became our mitochondria are inextricable from the present speaking self?
Changing our process can change our relationship with our writing. When I started creating book arts projects, I wanted my process to be beautiful and creative, not just the final product. I also wanted to think about how to write with my body since I was experiencing the first onset of my disability. In the first half of this workshop we will create a small book arts project and decorate it. These small books will fit in our pockets as we take a short walk together during which we will pause, read a few poems together, and write.
The most intimate, erotic and absurdly surreal yet mundane elements of our life’s poetry can be found in the trash. Within the bin, we discard our hidden emotions and our state of health, the ways we nourish and destroy ourselves, the activities that make us feel alive or numb. Our trash is telling of our present, and poetry is what brings it together with memory and time. The trash is an honest, beautiful and scummy place to be.
This workshop explores ways to use poetry to uncover buried truths in personal history or historical moments. We will talk about ways to integrate research, confront difficult scenes, examine erasures, and document artifacts to honor what has been hidden, lost, or disappeared. Participants will be guided through steps to write into the moment, examine the unknowns, and identify research questions and methodologies to deepen the discovery of the poem.