Our latest prompt is a bit of a change of direction — while several of our recent exercises were intended to help you fine-tune certain rudimentary poetic techniques, this week, we're thinking about new ways of generating language, specifically, ways that take physicality into account.
CAConrad (above), whose work some of you have already seen on our Facebook page, has been working for several years on a series of "(Soma)tic Poetry Exercises," which engage the body and its sensations as a way of stimulating the mind to poetry. He explains the ideas behind these exercises as follows:
He also adds the following caveat:
From my own wonderful experience taking part in one of Conrad's (soma)tic workshops this past fall, I can report that much of the usefulness of these sorts of exercises lies in your willingness to give in to the process fully — you subject yourself to certain physical and/or mental conditions, and then stay open to the words, the ideas, the images, the free associations that are generated within that mindset. You might not write for fifteen or twenty minutes, then write non-stop for just as long. As many of the instructions suggest, take copious notes on your experience, that is, be sure to capture the language that's generated through these processes — it might not be a finished poem at first, but you can take that raw material and work with it and come up with something spectacular. Just as importantly, you're very likely to feel wonderful after spending time doing one of these, because you're paying attention to your body, which is something that often gets lost in our busy lives.
You can browse through the entire list of exercises on Conrad's blog, but for this week, I've selected a few favorites to get you started:
For each exercise, be sure to read the poem that's linked on the exercise thread, if there is one, so you can see an example of how these practices yield finished products, and if there are filters, be sure to click on the link for an explanation of what that entails.
I've created a thread on Blackboard where you can post your (soma)tic poems, and if you'd like to read more work created through the process, here's a link to recordings from Conrad's chapbook (Soma)tic Midge (scroll down to the third set of poems in this session). Here are links to the poems for Red and Green.
CAConrad (above), whose work some of you have already seen on our Facebook page, has been working for several years on a series of "(Soma)tic Poetry Exercises," which engage the body and its sensations as a way of stimulating the mind to poetry. He explains the ideas behind these exercises as follows:
Soma is an Indo-Iranian ritual drink made from pressing particular psychedelic and energizing plants together. In Vedic and Zoroastrian traditions the drink is identified with the divine. The word Soma is derived from the Sanskrit and Indo-European tongues meaning "to press and be newly born."
Somatic is derived from the Greek, meaning the body. In different medical disciplines it can mean different things, from a cell or tissue, or to the part of the nervous system that controls sensations and movements.
My idea for a (Soma)tic Poetics is a poetry which investigates that seemingly infinite space between body and spirit by using nearly any possible THING around or of the body to channel the body out and/or in toward spirit with deliberate and sustained concentration.
He also adds the following caveat:
[The (Soma)tic Poetry Exercises] are free to everyone who wants to write some poetry, but I strongly suggest you do not write documentary poetry from them. Use the experiences as little car crashes for your life to write from — in other words my dears use these to write from, not of, thank you, you're fucking geniuses, now get writing!
From my own wonderful experience taking part in one of Conrad's (soma)tic workshops this past fall, I can report that much of the usefulness of these sorts of exercises lies in your willingness to give in to the process fully — you subject yourself to certain physical and/or mental conditions, and then stay open to the words, the ideas, the images, the free associations that are generated within that mindset. You might not write for fifteen or twenty minutes, then write non-stop for just as long. As many of the instructions suggest, take copious notes on your experience, that is, be sure to capture the language that's generated through these processes — it might not be a finished poem at first, but you can take that raw material and work with it and come up with something spectacular. Just as importantly, you're very likely to feel wonderful after spending time doing one of these, because you're paying attention to your body, which is something that often gets lost in our busy lives.
You can browse through the entire list of exercises on Conrad's blog, but for this week, I've selected a few favorites to get you started:
For each exercise, be sure to read the poem that's linked on the exercise thread, if there is one, so you can see an example of how these practices yield finished products, and if there are filters, be sure to click on the link for an explanation of what that entails.
I've created a thread on Blackboard where you can post your (soma)tic poems, and if you'd like to read more work created through the process, here's a link to recordings from Conrad's chapbook (Soma)tic Midge (scroll down to the third set of poems in this session). Here are links to the poems for Red and Green.
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