English 270
Graduate Poetry Workshop
Thursdays, 4:00PM - 6:30PM @ MH 219
Juliana Spahr, office hours M 6:15-6:45 and Th 3-4 @ MH 315.
[this
syllabus is the September 8 version; assumes 11 poets enrolled]
Requirements: Regular attendance; participation as delineated on the slightly insane schedule below; and 3 required wiki posts and 3 additional wiki posts in the topic area of your choice. Please bring the appropriate number of copies of your work to class the week before your work will be discussed. ). If you can’t make class regularly, this might not be the workshop for you. It gets messy when someone misses. You will be either presenting your work or responding to work every week and it gets hard to find time for make up sessions.
Grades: For this class I do not use evaluative criteria. Regular attendance and participation and all the work turned in at class and on the wiki gets you an A. Less than 90%, gets you a B. etc. If I am not giving you A credit for an assignment, then I will notify you and give you a chance to redo.
Wiki: The
wiki is an experiment in cross-continental
conversation. We will be conversing on it with those enrolled in a graduate
seminar at
Starting September 18… Once during the semester, each of you will be interviewed by another of you. This interview will be one half hour long. The interviewer should prepare for the interview by reading a decent chunk of work by the poet. Poet and interviewer should meet before the class and script the interview. Together they should come up with three pieces or parts of pieces to focus on in the interview. Interviewer will prepare three questions, one for each piece to be read. Please post interview questions on the wiki (poet may post answers also but this is not required).
August
28
introduction
Jody, Jessica, and Kiala will come to class 5-10 pages of work for the September 4th workshop.
module #1 STUDY PROJECT
Each respondent will present a course of study of some sort to the author. This course of study could be books, music, art, websites, etc. It should be some sort of cultural study (please avoid self-improvement suggestions). Each plan should probably have around six items on it. Although a few more might be necessary. Each respondent should write a few sentences about each suggestion and why they thought the author should study it. The goal here is to tell the author something about their work that they might not know or might not yet recognize. Please post on the wiki.
September
4
Jody will be educated by Ariel and Johnny.
Jessica will be educated by Johnny and Marjorie.
Kiala will be educated by Marjorie and Maggie.
Ariel, Johnny, and Marjorie should bring to class 5-10 pages of work for the September 11th workshop.
September
11
Ariel will be educated by Maggie and Shannon.
Johnny will be educated by Shannon
and
Marjorie will be educated by
Maggie, Shannon, and
September
18
Maggie will be educated by Anna and Roger.
Anna and Roger should bring to
class 5-10 pages of work for the September 25th workshop.
September
25
Anna will be educated by Jessica and Kiala.
Roger will be educated by Kiala and Ariel.
Shannon will be interviewed by
Johnny will be interviewed by Marjorie.
Jody, Jessica, and Kiala should bring to class 5-15 pages of provocative work for the October 9 workshop. Ariel should be preparing to interview Johnny.
module #2: DEBATES
As it matters, poetry provokes debate. For instance, the discussion about Michael Magee’s Their Guys, Their Asian Glittering Guys, Are Gay. As respondent, discuss the sorts of arguments that could be made for and against the poet’s work. Please realize that I am asking you to describe both sides of various arguments. I am not asking you to complain about the s work and I am not asking for evaluations about whether the work is bad or good.
October 2
No class.
October 9
Jody’s work will be debated by Marjorie and Maggie.
Jessica’s work will be debated by Maggie and Shannon..
Kiala’s
work will be debated by Shannon and
Ariel will be interviewed by Johnny.
Ariel, Johnny, and Marjorie should bring to class 5-15 pages of provocative work for the October 16 workshop. Jessica should be preparing to interview Jody.
October
16
Ariel’s work will be debated by
Johnny’s work will be debated by Anna and Roger.
Marjorie’s work will be debated by Roger and twelve.
Jody will be interviewed by Jessica.
Maggie, Shannon, and
At least two wiki posts should be done by this point.
October
23
Maggie’s work will be debated by Jody and Jessica.
Marjorie will be interviewed by Maggie.
Anna and Roger should bring to
class 5-15 pages of provocative work for the October 30 workshop. Kiala should be preparing to interview Jessica and
October
30
Anna’s work will be debated by Ariel and Johnny.
Roger’s work will be debated by Johnny and Marjorie.
Jessica will be interviewed by Kiala.
Maggie will be interviewed by
Jody, Jessica, and Kiala should bring to class some work for the November 6 workshop. Roger should be preparing to interview Anna.
module #3: DETOURN
See Guy Debord and Gil J Wolman’s A User’s Guide to Detournement. Detournement gets used loosely and could refer to many sorts of appropriation. For this module though, a more specific example would be Ben Friedlander’s Simulcast: Four Experiments in Criticism (available on reserve and at the Mills bookstore). Take some criticism as your source text and rewrite it so it is about the poet.
November
6
Jody will receive detournements from s Maggie and
Jessica will receive detournements from s Shannon and
Kiala
will receive detournements from s
Anna will be interviewed by Roger.
Ariel, Johnny, and Marjorie should
bring some work for the November 13 workshop. Anna should be preparing to
interview
November
13
Ariel will receive detournements from Anna and Roger.
Johnny will receive detournements from Roger and Jody.
Marjorie will receive detournements Jody and Jessica.
Maggie, Shannon, and
November
20
Maggie will receive detournements from Jessica and Kiala.
Roger will be interviewed by Jody.
Anna and Roger should bring some work for the December 4 workshop. Ariel should be preparing to interview Kiala.
November 27, thanksgiving
December
4
Anna will receive detournements from Johnny and Marjorie.
Roger will receive detournements from Marjorie and Maggie.
Kiala will be interviewed by Ariel.
If
you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of the course,
please meet with me. I would like us to discuss ways to ensure your full
participation in the course. If you determine that formal, disability related
accommodations are necessary, it is important that you register with Office of
Services for Students with Disabilities so that accommodations can be arranged
for this course and your future classes here at Mills. Please call 430-2130 for
an appointment.