Generating Associative Verse [Judith Skillman]
All Levels | How can we, as poets, access our subconscious minds—the land of dream, the territory where bizarre and surreal “stuff” surfaces? What’s the difference between associative writing and language poetry? Through studying the work of Osip Mandelstam, Cesar Vallejo, and Paul Celan, poets whose work jumps and leaps, we’ll explore the process of association. The instructor will supply a new prompt for each session to generate new work as sequences or stand-alone pieces for workshop and critique.
Syllabus
Each class session we will use 50 minutes for new materials & discussion. The balance of the class will be utilized for generating new work via prompts provided by the instructor, with time for workshop & critique.
Week 1
What is associative writing?
John Ashbery: Love him or hate him
Prompt & workshop
Week 2
Marina Tsvetaeva: Complexity, digression & sound play
Prompt & workshop
Week 3
Osip Mandelstam: Place as exile & point of departure
Prompt & workshop
Week 4
Edith Södergran: Leaps!
Prompt & workshop
Week 5
Tomas Tranströmer: Plumbing the depths
Prompt & workshop
Week 6
Kaveh Akbar: Calling a Wolf a Wolf
Workshop extant poems
FAQ
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