The
parameters . . .
The format for this workshop is a little more complicated than usual.
If this is too hard to understand, don't panic. We will go over this
in class.
*
(first ring)
The first three weeks (September 1, 8, and 15), we will hear from four
poets per session. If you are one of the presenting poets for the week,
you should bring in 13 copies of a piece of writing that is around 2-5
pages. If not, just come to class with paper and writing instrument.
*
(second ring)
September 22, October 13, and November 3 are group work days. We will
break up into groups of three. Each group will have a different focus.
You will lead a group one time during the semester. As leader, you should
prepare an activity that is one hour and forty five minutes long and
you should run by me what you plan to do at least a week in advance
(you can email me or you can stop by my office hours). The last half
hour of these workshops we will meet as a whole for summation/discussion.
If you
are nervous or can't think of what to do for your session, please contact
me and I will help you to design it. When planning, try and think about
what might most benefit you and your peers and be fun. These are meant
to be casual and a chance to do something within the workshop that you
usually don't get to do. So use them to add your own interests to the
workshop.
Groups
are loosely guided by these topics:
performance
[discussion of performance poetry or in workshop writing of a performance
poem; or in workshop performance of a poem; or . . . ]
in
workshop writing/creation
[For some ideas see Charles
Bernstein's and
Bernadette Mayer's lists of experiments.
Also,
these books are on reserve for more ideas . . .
Lewis
Turco, The New Book of Forms
808.1 T933b 2000
Oulipo:
A Primer of Potential Literature, ed Warren F. Motte, Jr.
840.6044 O934 1998
edited
by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris, Poems for the millennium:
the University of California book of modern & postmodern poetry
808.81 P744
ed.
Alex Preminger, The Princeton handbook of poetic terms
808.1 P957 1986 ]
reading/discussion
of other poet's ideas
[Leader will assign an article off the reserve list to discuss or
respond to or write an imitation of or . . . If you don't want to
do any of the articles on reserve, come talk to me. I will need to
add anything you want to do to reserve, so please get it to me at
least three weeks in advance. Also recognize that if you are leading
this workshop, you should give your participants enough lead time
to do the reading so you might have to some advance planning.]
alternative
workshop
[Could be as simple as just a time for more detailed work in a smaller
group or could be something more experimental.]
*
(third ring)
During the remaining weeks, we will discuss the work of two poets per
workshop. If your work is being discussed, you should bring to class
thirteen copies of a good chunk of work (10-20 pages) the week before.
Here is
how this will work…
Each Poet
will have two readers, Reader A and Reader B. Readers A and B will each
write up a page response to the work and bring 13 copies for the class.
Reader
As will describe the work formally. They will notice at least six to
ten things about the work. They might notice tense and they might notice
form and they might notice structure. They might also notice content
but the emphasis should be on how this intersects with form (in other
words, Reader A would not summarize what the Poet might be saying except
how content intersects with form). They might list what sorts of things
are in the work and what sorts of things are not in the work. They might
talk about the value systems of the form (such as the Poet values clarity
and clearly sorted data thus they embed their narrative in the sonnet
form or the Poet values chaos and disorder thus they tear apart the
sonnet form). Any sort of formal analysis. At moments Reader A might
feel s/he is being too simple but s/he should not worry about this because
his/her observations might be transparent to the Poet. Reader As might
imagine themselves as Russian formalist critics of the 50s. Those with
ambition and interest might refer to work by Roman Jakobson for some
insane suggestions here. Reader As will not say things like I like this
(or not) in this piece of writing (although they may well want to say
this in the workshop and should).
Reader
Bs will describe the stakes of the work. They will address why the work
matters (and they will assume that it does matter). They might place
the work in a tradition and discuss how it differs from or agrees with
that tradition. They might hypothesize about influences. They might
provide context for the piece. They might recommend reading to the Poet.
They, like the Reader As, will avoid evaluative critique. Reader Bs
might find it helpful to think of themselves as writing a poetic statement
for the Poet.
Poets
should submit work that will benefit from this sort of analysis. And
they should come to class with some notes that answer these questions
also. Poets might want to think of these questions as a gentle sort
of pressure on the writing hand and not as anything else. If a Poet
finds that these questions make their mind spin and disable the writing
hand, then Poet should forget them. They are not worth any anxiety that
leads to the avoidance of writing (on the contrary, they should produce
more writing). Maybe the Poet will find that someone else in workshop
might be able to answer them anyway.
*
in addition . . .
This class will have a discussion blog. You are highly encouraged to
post at least four times on the blog.
1. A post
where you introduce yourself, your interest in poetics, your influences,
concerns, questions by September 6. Maybe list six favorite books. Maybe
post a poem that matters to you and do a reading of it. Maybe just babble
about yourself.
2. A post on the work of Charles Bernstein by November 9.
3. A post on the work of Jennifer Moxley by November 30.
4. A post on what you did in the group session you lead and if it worked
or not within a week after your session.
I'm going
to be flexible about other posts on the blog but also realize that I'm
very pro posts to the blog. More regular posts are encouraged, but not
required. Please announce your readings or readings that you plan to
go to. Please discuss any readings that you went to and what they were
like. Discuss any books you've read recently. Any other ideas about
poetry. Post poetic manifestos, complaints, diatribes. Etc.
Even if
you only post four times, please read the blog at least once a week.
How the
blog works…
http://english270.blogspot.com
You give
me your email and then the blog company will send you an email about
how to log in.
You will
need to create a new account (unless you've already got a blog). After
you do this you will be taken to a main page. On the right side there
will be a list of "your" blogs. It should say English 270
in that list. Click there. It should be self explanatory from there.
The blog
is public and can be viewed by anyone but only people in the class can
contribute.
*
books . . .
These books
are available at the Mills College bookstore and should be on reserve
in the library. . .
Jennifer
Moxley, The Sense Record
Salt Publishing; 1876857935
Jennifer
Moxley, Imagination Verses
Salt Publishing; 1876857943
Charles
Bernstein, With Strings
U of Chicago: 0226044602
Charles
Bernstein, My Way
U of Chicago; 0226044106
*
reserves . . .
I
am working on assembling a collection of poetics essays that will remain
on reserve semester after semester. I welcome suggestions for this resource.
Right
now the following are all available via e-reserves:
Adorno,
Theodor W. "Commitment"
Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
Brathwaite, Kamau. "History of the Voice: The Development of Nation
Language in Anglophone Caribbean Poetry"
Breton, Andre and Diego Rivera (and Trotsky). "Manifesto for an
Independent Revolutionary Art"
Cortazar, Julio "The Writer and His Task in Latin America"
Dalton, Rogue. "Poetry and Militancy in Latin America"
Evans, Steve. "Field Notes: October 2003-June 2004"
Hejinian, Lyn. "The Rejection of Closure"
Howe, Susan. "Encloser"
Kawaharada, Dennis. "Local Mythologies: 1979-2000"
Padgett, Ron. "Creative Reading Techniques"
Mayakovsky, Vladimir. "How Are Verses Made"
Mullen, Harryette. "Imagining the Unimagined Reader: Writing to
the Unborn and Including the Excluded"
Glissant, Edouard. "The unforseable diversity of the world."
Stein, Gertrude. "Poetry and Grammar"
Waldrop, Rosmarie. "Alarms and Excursions"
Watten, Barrett. "Bride of the Assembly Line: from Material Text
to Cultural Poetics"
To access
. . .
go to
http://minerva.mills.edu
choose "reserves by faculty"
enter spahr in the box
choose english270
the password is ENG270-01F04