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| Chuck Close, Maggie (1996) |
Because we're all narcissists at heart, there's often no topic we'd rather write about than ourselves, and I'd like you to indulge that instinct for this writing prompt. Specifically, I'd like you to write a self-portrait poem, but in a way that you're not necessarily going to be inclined to write that poem.
I'd like you to build your self-portrait in a fragmented fashion, working in that geometric field method we talked about in last Thursday's class — presenting discrete, disconnected images, ideas, bits of speech, etc. that delineate a larger abstract field and leave many if not all of the connections between the points unstated, so that it's up to the reader to make those intuitive leaps, bring it all together and make sense out of it. Working with that idea, I'm making the suggestion that you work humbly, concretely, mundanely, multifariously: don't write about your greatest achievements, your deepest convictions, the existential dramas that keep you away at night, but rather take the simple everyday matter of your life and present it in a way that illuminates it for both you and your readers.
What exactly might that look like? How's about a catalogue of the contents of your pockets, or a list of the clothes you're wearing from head to toe, or three things you overheard while going about your business today, or a list of boring secrets, or twelve memories conjured up by browsing through old photos on your computer, or a conglomeration of disconnected items that embody qualities you possess, or four places you'd like to go, or the various things that the keys on your keychain unlock, or explanations for all of your scars, or the last five books you read, or the haircut you'd like to get next, or the piece of jewelry you most treasure, or what you'd buy your best friends if money was no option, or what you'd grab first if your house was on fire, or things the bus driver would say about you, and so forth.
Don't just choose one of these, but rather pick a few and run them together, or invent some of your own. Some of these are more personal than others, some more oblique, and hopefully you'll find a good mix of the two. Your finished poem should say a lot about you, but not be obvious or straightforward. Remember fragmentation, collage, juxtaposition are key ideas here, so break your poem up into parts, make them clash with one another, make it say something about you that you've never said before.
Oh, and one final challenge (though this one is tough, so feel free to disregard if you're so inclined) — write your poem without using the pronoun "I."
If you can write something for this prompt by Thursday's class, that's great, and please post it to the thread on Blackboard — we should have some extra time to discuss your experience of working with this prompt then — and if that's too short notice, then this prompt will perhaps be useful in getting poems together for your next workshop.
What exactly might that look like? How's about a catalogue of the contents of your pockets, or a list of the clothes you're wearing from head to toe, or three things you overheard while going about your business today, or a list of boring secrets, or twelve memories conjured up by browsing through old photos on your computer, or a conglomeration of disconnected items that embody qualities you possess, or four places you'd like to go, or the various things that the keys on your keychain unlock, or explanations for all of your scars, or the last five books you read, or the haircut you'd like to get next, or the piece of jewelry you most treasure, or what you'd buy your best friends if money was no option, or what you'd grab first if your house was on fire, or things the bus driver would say about you, and so forth.
Don't just choose one of these, but rather pick a few and run them together, or invent some of your own. Some of these are more personal than others, some more oblique, and hopefully you'll find a good mix of the two. Your finished poem should say a lot about you, but not be obvious or straightforward. Remember fragmentation, collage, juxtaposition are key ideas here, so break your poem up into parts, make them clash with one another, make it say something about you that you've never said before.
Oh, and one final challenge (though this one is tough, so feel free to disregard if you're so inclined) — write your poem without using the pronoun "I."
If you can write something for this prompt by Thursday's class, that's great, and please post it to the thread on Blackboard — we should have some extra time to discuss your experience of working with this prompt then — and if that's too short notice, then this prompt will perhaps be useful in getting poems together for your next workshop.
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