Bravery Studies: Three Poems a Week:
With Andy Jones
Fall 2016
27 Olson (the computer classroom)
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Course Outline & Goals:
Albert Einstein once said that “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” This poetry and bravery studies workshop will guide the participants in our seminar through a series of take-home and in-class writing assignments that will remind you of your intuition, individuality and creativity. Using examples from books, handouts, and websites, I will challenge you to write ambitious and honest poems. Class participants will focus on avoiding clichés, surprising the reader, and revealing the fresh and stimulating observations and reflections of a bright poet and creative thinker. We will also seek out and take advantage of places to perform our poems (and to engage in other sorts of performance, such as of the musical and theatrical variety). These will include in art galleries and on the radio.
Class participants will meet and write in a computer classroom so that we can take full advantage of the myriad anthologies and other resources available on the web. As most creative professionals showcase their work on the web, we may also virtually tour museums, architectural marvels and concert halls, discovering in these sites inspiration for both the tenor and vehicles of our poems. We will also use the web to research others’ approach to assignments like ours, and learn from the models that we find there.
One advantage of conducting this research will be our discovery of local “creative performances,” three of which you will attend and review with a two-page essay each; two of these performances will be poetry readings, while the other may include a concert, a stand-up comedy performance, a play, an art show opening, etc. We will especially seek out poetry readings that have open mics so we can perform our work before strangers.
You will also share your creations with real-world audiences. In addition to sharing one or more poems on the radio and at open mics around town, each of you will email or snail-mail three or more poems to an editor of an actual literary journal to be considered for publication.
Texts: Each student will purchase a literary journal at Newsbeat (3rd Street) or an equivalent newsstand or bookstore, and a book of poetry by a living poet. Consider purchasing this book from The Avid Reader or Logos Books, both on 2nd Street in Davis.
