Hugo House Organic Poetry Course, May 17, 2007

Course Outline

Week VI: Integration.

   1)   Thoughts after week four.

   2)   Madlib VI

   3)   Writing Exercise One – The Waldman Portrait Duet.

a)      People pair off in the group. The sit with your partner and “sketch” each other with words, making a detailed description of the person’s physicality (including appearance) and what associations arise as well. Then start talking and “interviewing” each other with profound questions; What is your greatest fear? How do you see yourself dying? What do you like to eat for breakfast? Where were you born? Your parents? How would you like to be remembered? Things of that kind. Keep writing as you are both talking. Notice “how” things are being said. Then sit in silence and review your writing. Shape it, edit it, expand it, or not. Person one gets ten minutes to interview person two, then switch and then you each get ten minutes to write and title a poem about the other person with the realization this may be the last poem written about this person and may be read at their wake. (30 minutes).

   4)   Writing Exercise Two – Write Your Biography for your Memorial Service.

b)      What should people know about you, how you spent your life, what you did with      that precious gift of energy that will never again come back in quite the same way? What were your accomplishments? Who did you love? What will folks remember about you? (Ten minutes.)

   5)   Group discussion of potential daily writing practices, potential muti-decade writing projects. Each person speaks for 3-4 minutes. (20-30 minutes).

   6)   Writing Exercise Three. American Sentences. Paul reads a selection of American Sentences and each person gets 7 minutes to write one or two.

   7)   Writing Exercise Four – Evaluation Corpse. Start a poem with a line from an image, or moment you remember from the class. Something with energy. Continue the thought onto the next line leaving the person to your left with a word or two short ones to continue the thread. Try to limit your words to perceptions from the class, or associations you get from something that happened in the past six weeks. How would you describe the organic? (15 minutes).

   8)   Remember Wednesday, May 23, 6:30PM at the Hugo House for student reading. March 27 teacher reading. Remember, A Night of Cheap Wine and Poetry, Thursday June 7, 7P. Also, Write-O-Rama Father’s Day. Hope you can participate. Get others who may be interested in writing to participate.

   9)   I have CD’s and books for sale, $15 each.

10)   Parting Gifts!