ZELDAVILLE

ANYONE!

2012-02-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Students, Artists, Writers, Saviors,

Tomorrow is our Valentines on Demand event, and I am not really sure of who confirmed that they would help. Two of our online poems have been written and they are gorgeous. But I need help with the creation of the physical valentines. Any of you who have seen my "art" know that your help would be a great gift.

The event goes from 9:45 to 3:00 and if you can help out in any way: words or pictures, I would be very appreciative.
(First floor Crane, near Starving Artist)

Ekphrasis Syllabus Update

2012-02-09T06:15:00.002-08:00

T: Completion of The Red Shoes
H: Discussion of fairytale. In-class composition.

Homework: Read Introduction through page 38 in Poets on Painters
Read: Matisse by Gertrude Stein
Write a poem based on what you were given in class today. (ten line minimum, any interpretation, any form)

T: Discussion of readings & poems.

H: The Realms of the Unreal.
Homework:
Ashbery Reading:
John D'Agata in Boston Review on John Ashbery
Biographical notes on John Ashberyl

Valentine's Day, Botticelli & You

2012-02-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

CCAD STUDENTS & FACULTY!
COME SUPPORT YOUR LITERARY MAGAZINE. SOLVE YOUR VALENTINE"S DAY GIFT DILEMMAS. Here, right here!
It's that time of year again! The talented poets and artists of Botticelli (our very own literary/art journal) gather to write poems and make valentines for that famed and dreaded mid-February holiday.

You can order your own personalized Poems on Demand online through Friday, February 10 at 5 p.m.

Or, you can order them live on Monday February 13th at the Botticelli table on the first floor of Crane, near Starving Artist. Valentines will be two bucks a piece and proceeds go to Botticelli for future events, including our April National Poetry Month activities. (Stay tuned!)
To place orders for poems online (deadline again, for online poems is Friday, February 10 at 5), simply fill out the form below, send it back to botticellimag@gmail.com

Just to review:
1. You can drop by any time between 10 and 3 to pick up your online, pre-ordered valentines and pay your two bucks. (There will be candy there to sweeten the deal.)
2. You can drop by any time between 10 and 3 and order your valentines live and return in one hour to collect. (Candy for you, too!)

Here is the form. Feel free to add more instructions, details, messages and we'll find a way to get them in to the poem.

1. Name of person to whom valentine will be addressed:
2. Sender's relationship to recipient: (gf, friend, grandmother, child,)
3. Any petnames, nicknames, you'd like included:
4. Favorite things, hobbies, colors, etc. that might mean something to the poem or valentine's presentation:
5. Inside jokes, dates, memories message you'd like to be included:
6. Anything else?

Advanced Creative Writing

2012-02-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

ADVANCED CREATIVE WRITING
KH 207
Mondays 12:30-3:20

01/23 Week One:
Introduction.
Students’ Project Goals.

01/30 Week Two:
Discuss collaboration.
Beckman & Rohrer on Poetry.org
Interview at PBQ (Beckman & Roher)
Amongst other things, a manifesto for collaboration (Seaton & Duhamel)

It’s not for everyone: collaboration. But in a class where most of you are more than mildly interested in writing, you are likely to meet the kind of people who have the right kinds of brains for you. Collaboration is one way to play while you work and to make of the play an exercise for new ways of exploring how it is that you write or might like to stretch your ways of writing.
In-Class Assignment: Collaborations
Homework:
1. Read and comment upon Alejandro’s story. (This will be emailed to you shortly.)
2. Read all of the introduction, plus the first three chapters of Writing Shapely Fiction. (Façade, Juggling, Iceberg.) The chapters are very short so it’s not as much as it seems.
3. Type up your collaborations (from in-class assignment) and bring two copies for the next class.
Homework:
Read Last Lap through Bear at the Door in Making Shapely Fiction.
Read and carefully critique Alejandro's story for next week's workshop.
Week Three
Workshop of Alejandro's story. Distribution of stories by Quinniqua and Seth.
Discussion of pages 15-47 in Making Shapely Fiction.

2012-02-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

Studies in Greece.

The link should give you a sense of what the program looks like.

Advanced Creative Writing

2012-02-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

Alejandro's story has now been sent to you via email. I don't know how the formatting will look and the challenges of doing things this way have led me to decide that we'll go back to my old method of writers bringing in enough copies for the class.

For this round, paste the story into word, print it and comment on it for the workshop.

I saw this article and thought some of you might find it useful and interesting.

Contemporary Literature Syllabus

2012-02-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Ekphrasis

2012-01-31T05:22:00.000-08:00

Next Reading:
The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen

Some Ovid.

Also, here is some of Eric's video work
influenced by this piece of art.

Please read this poem by Charles Bukowski

I thought that we had a very interesting conversation about how ekphrasis operated though the Ovid to the Bruegel and then to both Auden and Williams. I wanted to point out that though the Auden poem (1938) came before the Williams (1960), and it would be highly unlikely that Williams was not aware of the Auden, it does not follow that they moved progressively. By this I mean that Williams was not working off of the Auden as much as he was, like Auden, coming at the painting with his own approach. This might help address the concern that a diminishment or a washing-away is taking place as was mentioned in class. Also, important to consider is that each act of art progressing from art to art functions very differently. I am including this article and particularly the table referred to as Figure 1 might help clarify the variety of ways that poems are written following a piece of art. The variations continue to multiply as we might add the second or third "ripple' from the stone thrown as the original artwork, but beyond those variations, there are the detours made when more than on poet or artist is responding to a piece and to those pieces and so on.

The possibilities become truly endless and the methods, not the least of which is the issue of whether a piece becomes more present in the subsequent artworks or washes away and leaves something nearly unrecognizable varies widely.

Just for fun here are some other examples of Bruegel's painting.

Edward Field Icarus
Diane Abse Bruegel in Naples
Michael Hamburger's Lines on Icarus and Ronald Bottrall's Icarus

Finally, if something seems missing in the treatment of a piece or you can see another way to do it, therein lies your idea/your poem. For example, Kelly's wish for there to be "more and not less" as the imitations continued (putting the tomatoes, mushrooms and more back into the "egg" analogy that she described in class) then there might be the poem she would write: the one that goes at the material as she wishes to see it approached. With all of these works and all of these approaches, it is my hope that you'll see gaps or find inspiration in how you would do it instead.

Kartsonis All Classes: Visiting Artist Dates for Our Classes

2012-01-30T06:17:00.001-08:00

The three dates below should be noted as those particularly valuable and important to your classes. The visiting artist series is superb and is something you should avail yourselves of as it is one of the many privileges of being in school and immersed in intriguing conversations. But, in particular, and pertaining to language and literature, the three listed below are mandatory to my classes. If you have a scheduling conflict or some other reason for which attendance will be difficult, please let me know. Otherwise, plan ahead and get to these. I have seen and heard all of them read and and read their work and they are an exceptional line-up.

Monday February 2711:00 AM – 12:20 PM
Joseph V. Canzani Auditorium
Free and Open to the Public

Charlene Fix, professor, chair, English and Philosophy, teaches writing, literature, poetry, and film and literature. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, The Ohio Review, The Chicago Review, The Manhattan Review, and Negative Capability. She has received fellowships for her poetry from both the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council, and won the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. She has published a chapbook of poems, Mischief (Pudding House Publications), and a poetry collection, Flowering Bruno: A Dography, a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry (XOXOX Press). BS, MA, The Ohio State University.

Charlene will share highlights from "Harpo Marx as Trickster: Why We Love Him, Why We Laugh at Him, Why He Seems Divine," complete with film clips, stills, anecdotes, and few poems (her own and others) analyzing and celebrating this 20th century and beyond manifestation of the trickster archetype. With his cohorts Groucho and Chico, Harpo destabilizes power and cleanses institutions. But only Harpo exhibits the full range and multiplicity of trickster traits. Trickster tales arc between disorder and balance, passing through chaos as do the Marx Brothers’ films, with Harpo’s tantalizing complexity at the heart of the disruption.
----------------------------------
Matt Hart
Poet
Monday, March 5, 2012.
11:00 AM – 12:20 PM
Joseph V. Canzani Auditorium
Free and Open to the Public

Matt Hart is the author of three books of poetry: Who's Who Vivid (Slope Editions, 2006), Wolf Face (H_NGM_N BKS, 2010), and Light-Headed (BlazeVOX, 2011), as well as several chapbooks. A fourth full-length collection, Sermons and Lectures Both Blank and Relentless, will be published by Typecast in 2012. His poems and reviews have been widely published, and he's received fellowships from both the Breadloaf Writers' Conference and the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. In 2010 he was chosen by the University of Iowa's International Writing Program and the U.S. State Department to participate in the Life of Discovery exchange program in China.
Hart has performed his poems nationwide. He is also a musician and songwriter whose music has been featured in major motion pictures and on MTV. In 1996, he cofounded Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking & Light Industiral Safety, which Poets & Writers magazine called one of the most innovative small press magazines in the country. He is the Art Academy of Cincinnati's Poet-in-Resistance.

Here are some links for you to have a look at in reference to Matt Hart: (I didn't hotlink them, so you'll have to cut and paste them in.)

www.artacademy.edu/academics_and_programs/faculty/matt-hart.php

bigbigmess.tumblr.com/post/9810232520/wrecking-ball-made-man-matt-hart-reads-a-new-poem

www.versedaily.org/2008/aboutmattharthr.shtml
-----------------------------
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Monday March 26, 2012.
11:00 AM – 12:20 PM
Joseph V. Canzani Auditorium
Free and Open to the Public

Aimee’s newest collection, Lucky Fish, was just released from Tupelo Press and was recently featured in The New York Times. Poems from this collection were awarded a 2009 NEA Fellowship in poetry, the Glenna Luschia Prize from Prairie Schooner, and the Angoff Award from The Literary Review for the best poems appearing that volume year.

Some background info: At the Drive-In Volcano (Tupelo Press), her second book of poetry, was named the winner of the Balcones Prize, which honors an outstanding collection published the previous year (2007). Finalists for this award included Bob Hicok, Laura Kasischke, and Ron Padgett. My first collection of poetry, Miracle Fruit, was selected by Gregory Orr for the Tupelo Press Prize and was the winner of ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award in poetry, the Global Filipino Literary Award. Other awards include a Pushcart Prize, a poetry fellowship to the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Boatwright Prize from Shenandoah and the Richard Hugo Prize from Poetry Northwest.

Advanced Creative Writing

2012-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

A few notes:

1. Absences. My general course policy is up to two, you will not be docked, but after two, you can be asked to drop the course. In our case, missing even one class is a large percentage of the class-entire. You have one free absence that, if you hope to do very well in the class, you will not use at all. (It is once a week, after all.) Please make any arrangements needed to try to be there every single class, if at all possible.

2. Collaborations. In a day or two, I will announce "teams" for this and I will assign those teams a subject. We will do our first collaborative project in class and you may others as homework. (These are independent of your large projects and will be just for in class "advanced writing" practice.)

3. "The Mikes" will be providing me with your first workshop pieces. Their work is around fifty pages long, so get started early and take care and time with it. Additionally, Alejandro has around forty pages for us to examine and I would like to have these all be part of our first round. For others of you, smaller pieces are welcome--don't feel you have to match these page numbers if your project is shorter, not as far along, etc.
(As for Mikes A. and Alejandro, feel free to email me what you would like workshopped, as soon as you can.)

2012-01-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year

Advanced Creative Writing

2012-01-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Syllabus
2012 Spring Term Full Session
LA424/Lecture/01 - Advanced Creative Writing Workshop | Credits 3.00
In the Advanced Creative Writing Workshop, students will create written works in one genre-nonfiction, fiction, or poetry- but have the option of exploring all three including cross-disciplinary forms. Writers will hone their writing through a deeper understanding and use of traditional and experimental poetic, narrative, and essayistic forms, and be encouraged to undertake long-form works and artistic risks. Students will also examine the contemporary literature landscape with an eye toward publishing.

Instructors Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis
Contact information: skartsonis@ccad.edu
Duration 1/17/2012 - 5/11/2012
Schedule M 12:30 PM - 3:20 PM; Columbus College of, Kinney Hall, Room 207
Prerequisites ( LA190 / Lecture or LA190 / e-Learning ) and ( LA422 / Lecture or LA490A / Lecture or LA490B / Lecture )
Corequisites N/A
Credit Types Audit Credit HECC Credit NonCredit Transfer Credit
Required Texts:
Rhyme's Reason, John Hollander

Making Shapely Fiction, Jerome Stern

Additional suggested texts: (Not required, but useful now and later.)
Creating Poetry
Poetry Dictionary, both by John Drury

Extreme Fiction ed. by Michael Martone

M January 23
Introduction
In-class write-up involving your projects, personal goals, genres of interest.
Discussion
Read the following poem and discuss what narrative techniques it employs, how it is or is not a "poem" and how it would differ if the poet chose to tell the same story in prose form. Consider the decisions made within any genre and within that genre, all of the other choices (voice, point-of-view, form, typographical layout). How do these influence the way a piece is being read?
Sonnets Uncorseted, Maxine Kumin

Homework: Read the following essay and be prepared to discuss the concept of the literary tourist. Also, for a scene or poem, designate a character or an event to in some way, display "literary tourism." Bring in one copy ready to discuss how you went about this.

Contemp. Lit. your book has been selected, see below

2012-01-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

Course Policies for All Kartsonis Spring 2012 Classes

2012-01-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

Required and Recommended Text(s):
See particular class syllabus

Schedule of Classes (including key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates):
(See Attached)
Methods/weights of Evaluation (this is a list of items that will be used as the basis for calculating students’ grades in the course, i.e., presentations, quizzes, projects, assignments 70%,
attendance &class participation 30%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):
Due dates are crucial, particularly for those assignments that involve class-wide presentation or discussion. Late work will not be welcome and if an assignment is not turned in for a student’s upcoming or workshop or a presentation is not ready, there is no way to make that up to the whole class. For this reason, those assignments must come in on time, students must be present for their own workshops and as they are given two free absences, it is expected that students save those for such occasions and to keep the instructor informed (at least eight hours before class is to begin, where possible) that there has been an issue or emergency. After three absences, the instructor reserves the right to request the student consider dropping the course. All work unless otherwise noted is to be typed, proofread and turned in as a final, to-be-graded, copy.
CCAD Academic Policies:
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Academic dishonesty may assume several forms. The most common are the use of unauthorized materials during exams, acquiring information from other students during an exam, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined by the following actions:
• Reproducing another person’s work and submitting it as one’s own
• Lifting material from other sources, including the Internet, to use in assignments without acknowledgment
• Using another person’s original ideas without providing appropriate credit
• Misrepresenting oneself as another individual to an instructor in the context of completing assignments or tests
• Participating in co-construction of assignments without the knowledge and approval of the instructor (not to be confused with legitimate and appropriate tutoring activities, which do not include actually completing another person’s work for him/her)
In all cases, if a student is unsure about a question of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the instructor should be consulted. Please consult the appropriate section under “Disciplinary Procedures” to learn about specific procedures involved in academic misconduct cases.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. Students may receive a failing grade if they have three or more absences in courses meeting once a week or four or more absences in courses meeting twice a week. For Summer Semester, the number of absences is computed on the basis of the total number of class hours missed (nine or more hours for studio courses and six or more hours for other courses). For May Minimester or summer sessions, missing 15% or more of a class constitutes an automatic failure. Students are reminded that they will receive a failing grade if they stop attending a course without properly dropping it. Dropping courses is the responsibility of the student.
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) A grade of incomplete (I) is given only in cases involving serious illness or unforeseen emergencies. In case of illness, a written verification may be required from the attending physician. The student should see the director of advising to process the proper medical documentation.
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. Students who violate college policies, cause harm to others, commit criminal acts, or engage in disruptive behavior on or off campus premises may be subject to disciplinary sanctions by the institution.

One for All

2012-01-19T05:37:00.001-08:00

Check out Sylvia Plath by Ryan Adams for some art on art action, some contemporary literature reference and yes, advanced creative writing, both Plath and Adams are fine examples of good words.

Ekphrasis Class

2012-01-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

HNLA101/Lecture/03
Art Begets Art: Ekphrasis
Instructor: Sophia Kartsonis
Time:TR 11:00 am - 12:20 pm Columbus College of/Design Studios on Broad/210
Required Texts:
Poets on Painters,ed. J.D. McClatchey
Dimestore Alchemy, Joseph Cornell
Inflorescence by Sara Hannah

Not required but you might enjoy: By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham. It deals with art, and some of the literary allusions will be familiar after some of our studies.
Also, the very pricey but intriguing: The Gazer's Spirit by John Hollander

The following will be part of our discussion tomorrow and some of your weekend homework. You need not have read it before class as I posted it very late.
Much of what we will be focusing on is how much we need to be able to "see" the piece rendered in language.
Torso of Apollo
Archaic Torso of Apollo
Shield of Achilles
The Shield of Achilles
More about the original piece of art
Stealing the Scream
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
Musee de Beaux Arts
Essay: Ekphrasis or Not?

Contempory Lit. Late Post

2011-11-30T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here's what we'll be looking at in class tomorrow: Unchopping a Tree by W.S. Merwin

Cathedral by Raymond Carver

Contemporary Lit Update

2011-11-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

November

Tuesday 11/08 Discussion ee cummings
Homework: Read Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin

Thursday 11/10 Discussion Sonny's Blues
Homework: Read White Angel by Michael Cunningham

Tuesday 11/15 Discussion White Angel & Sonny's Blues
Homework: Read Things They Carried

BOTTICELLI READING 6:30-8:00 Crane Ist Floor

Thursday 11/17 Discussion Tim O'Brien

Writing Poetry Update

2011-10-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

10/27 Thursday
Complete workshop.
Homework: For Tuesday, have two imitation poems ready.
1. a poet from your previous reading (O'Hara, Bishop.etc.)
2. Jackie Osherow

You will hand them both out for comments and choose the one you want us most to focus on for class discussion. (You don't need to note that on the poems, just tell us when it's your turn which you'd like to look at.) Also, for those of you still interested in addressing the "Muskingum County Massacre" any one of these poems can be paired with that option. BONUS: Emma Bolden at The Yawp Project
said she would be interested in having us send these to her project. Her site was invented to give people the inspiration to get poems that they really love out into the world. But, for Whitman, it is that crucial shout, that which must be said, spoken written. For me, it's these blameless creatures who feel rather crucial right now. AND you could send the same poem for consideration to Botticelli as neither Emma's site nor Botticelli are funny about previously-published work. (Think of the resume!)

11/01 Tuesday Distribution of new work and discussion of formal verse. We'll start workshops of imitations on Tuesday and limit each to seven minutes so you'll need to have your comments ready and be efficient. Formal poems will be due for distribution a week from Thursday. (11/10).

Formal Poetry Reading: Formal poetry readings: The Sestina.
Elizabeth Bishop One Art and Sestina (yes, I know you've read her but focus in on these two in particular for the formal poetry assignment.) Matthew Guenette's Sestina Aguillera
Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

The Sonnet & Terza Rima are also options.
There are examples on the left of the page.
This POETIC GLOSSARY should prove useful.

Weekly Update All Classes

2011-10-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

POETRY: Jackie Osherow's visit is next week. Her book is due, read all the way through by Thursday. For now, we'll be hitting some links. (We are going to delay any workshops for the week, to be ready for her visit. Do have your imitations and formal poems in mind--her poems actually work off of form quite often, so we'll just plug her into our studies of formal verse and you'll be even more ready.)

This week's plan:

Tuesday 10/18 Start unit on Osherow. I will lead an introduction to her work in class. Be ready to talk about her whole book and the es Read the following:
Poetry Society of America essay

God's Acrostic, (from Dead Man's Praise, I think.)

From Hoopoe's Crown

And from Whitethorn, your REQUIRED text.
Poem for Jenny

Thursday 10/20 Whitethorn discussion. Come to class with comments ready.

-------------------
WRITING FICTION:

Tuesday 10/18: Complete Moby Dick (movie, of course)
Group One to have stories ready to distribute.

Thursday 10/20: Group One Stories, possible writing assignment.
---------------
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

Tuesday 10/18 Imagist poems due. Typed, ready to turn in. (Look to William Carlos Williams links and a Brief Guide to Imagism on the Academy of Am. Poets' page. More on Williams. Video on Robert Frost.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
NOTE: In light of our visiting artist Monday, October 24, 11:00 a.m. Canzani Auditorium. We'll follow the links for her work under Writing Poetry above. And we will discuss in class for students who have the book.

10/20 Thursday We will study Jacqueline Osherow's work this week.
Tuesday 10/25 In class visit by Jackie Osherow. Have questions ready for her about her work or contemporary poetry or her beloved Ms. Emily Dickinson. You can ask her about blank verhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifse and the more colloquial voice in her work and in Frost's. You can ask about her primary influences and what she learned from them specifically. Also, her vast connection to specific works of art.
Homework: Read Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens (a little look back, I know). Discuss how his view of the blackbird is different from an Imagist's take or how you find it similar. Discuss then, how Frost might have written the same poem. Homework: Read Robert Frost, Bio, and all of the poems. And ee cummings selections.

Thursday 10/27 Discusson on Imagism continued, also Frost, Stevens ee.cummings. Homework: Hart Crane bio and poems.

-------------------------------

2011-10-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

BOTTICELLI LITERARY/ART JOURNAL
Ways to be involved: Note that you can choose one of these roles and still work on individual events. All staff members are encouraged to submit work to the journal, too. We’ll see to it that your acceptance or rejection is fairly determined.
Note to those NOT in attendance: There are positions available throughout and I am open to any ideas you'd like to add that will help Botticelli be more visible on campus. The next document will show some of the ideas we've already come up with and beginning to implement.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Assistant Editor: Silver Corbin: Helps oversee contact with staff, any extra duties involving editing, etc. Helps (thank you Silver!) coordinate times for staff members to meet either online or live.
Poetry and Fiction Editors: Mary Nemeth and Scott Stewart will share these two posts Checks for new poetry and fiction submissions. Screens them organizes them as we select or reject them. Sends an email either way to author. (We have standard emails for this process.)
Interview/Review/Non Fiction Editor__________________(position open) See poetry ed. duties except pertaining to CNF.and the featured artists section that we discussed in the meeting. (Senior Thesis pieces and so on.)
Literary Staff:
Art Editor Pallavi Sen
Helps solicit art submissions from CCAD. While I am open to our inclusion of outside literary submissions, I prefer the art come from our students for the time being. An art editor can request pieces be sent in for consideration and will help with emailing selected artists and letting them know that the status of their work. Additionally, the Art Editor can work to decide which art is placed where as the site and the venues for Botticelli grow. (Broadsides, possible chapbooks, etc.)
Art Staff:
__________________
Media Assistant: Silver Corbin &______________
Is comfortable with learning some minor website programming and helping ensure that the site is running and/or contacting me to let me know that say, submissions are not getting in, etc. Helps set the site up each issue. (More on what is involved from Mitch: our resident saint and multi-media guru.)
Individual events:
Poetry on Demand: Sitting at a table in Crane for a couple of hours at a time and writing poems on demand for Valentines or decorating completed valentines with artwork, cutting out paper hearts etc.
Reading: Helping Hannah Stephenson with the reading for accepted work. (People will give a reading of their work—optional, of course—to inaugurate the new issues.) The person working here will simply help contact authors and help Hannah get everything ready. Ideally, there will be two of these per year.
Flying Poems: In April, for National Poetry Month. We get helium balloons and we send them away with poems on their strings. Chelsea Free can give you the scoop on how she set this event up the first year.
We are planning a number of new events and ways to make Botticelli visible to the school and nationwide.
1. Mary Nemeth suggested that we do bookmarks with poems from the magazine on them and/or our name and "logo" etc. (Not sure, but Mary can let us know.) In any case, these will be slipped into books in libraries and bookstores and places where books be throughout the city. Additionally, these and any broadsides/keepsakes we make will be available at the Botticelli table in Chicago at Associated Writing Programs Conference (February.)

2. Mary's other idea is slipping my mind just now, but it was good. Help me out, Guys. Or was it this one: We feature seniors and one grad. student per issue. We interview them, have some of their art available in a section. We were thinking maybe three per issue.

3. Austin's idea about having pieces of art inspired by writing and writing inspired by art (the artist's or writer's own work or work that is available to us for that forum, even if only by mention, but sometimes in image).

4. I am drawing a blank but there were some great ideas including Pallavi's suggestions for how to pull more artwork and artists into the magazine and Silver's idea that we do a kind of national poetry swap. I think that bookmarks and broadsides would facilitate this process.

Events by Season or Month:

Fall: Public Reading from New Issue (Hannah Stephenson) Next year: Family Homecoming Weekend or around Halloween. This year will be pushed back to November due to our getting re-started with the new technology, etc.

Winter Poems on Demand (Valentines' Day) I will want Alejandro, Scott Stewart and any other willing staff members at the table. You can write poems or make the Valentines

Flying Poetry (April for National Poetry Month

Spring: Public Reading for New Spring Issue and National Poetry Month. (Hannah Stephenson is willing to organize these.)

Why you guys are the best. Thanks again to the student who brought this to my attention.

2011-10-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Derrick Brown

Weekend Homework All Classes

2011-09-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

Because all of the work I did to prepare specific instructions for each class for Thursday doesn't seem to be in the syllabus installment section, I am going to make sure you all have a sense of your homework here: (I did announce in class what each class would be doing, but I would like those of you checking the blog to be able to confirm.)
Writing Poetry: You have yours still, for some reason, so you're good to go. The next poems we will be workshopping are your ekprhastics, formal and yes, the imitation.

Writing Fiction: You had that same gallery assignment with the museum visit, selection of a piece of art (write down title and artist) and then a list of 30 concrete words from the piece. (Example Van Gogh's Starry Night Indigo, Mustard, Star, Shaggy, Thick, Tree, Water, Night, etc.) Using as many words from the list as possible, write a scene. You can use an existing piece of fiction, write something new, you can choose to have your character be in the painting or an object or person that has some stake in the scene depicted in the painting. It's a wide open field on how you further tackle the assignment. These pieces will be due for small group workshops on

Tuesday 10/04 Workshop Group Three
Group Four Distributes Stories

Thursday 10/06 Workshop Four
Homework: Make sure that your ekphrasis scenes are typed-up and ready to discuss in small groups on Tuesday 10/11. Also, read this & these two Raymond Carver stories. 1 2

If the links don't work, please google and find the full text for Barry Hannah's Water Liars and Raymond Carver's Cathedral and A Small Good Thing. These stories are to be read by Thursday.

Tuesday 10/11 Small Group Discussion of Ekphrastic stories.

Thursday 10/13 Discussion of Carver and Hannah stories.
-------------------------------------------------

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

Thursday 09/27 Movie The Yellow Wallpaper
(A bust, I know. We'll make it up somehow--sorry for the dead vhs, I had not viewed it before and didn't know.)

HOMEWORK: Read T.S. Eliot's biographical information and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock at Poets.org. (It is the site for the Academy of American Poets.) You can google it and it will be there.

Additionally, at the same site, read the biographical paragraphs and poems of Wallace Stevens and EACH POEM from Sunday Morning DOWN. In other words, go to Wallace Stevens on the Academy of American Poetry site, read the info about him and then there will be links to the poems on the right (just like with T.S. Eliot) and those, beginning with the poem called Sunday Morning until the final poem in the list should be read and ready for discussion. Looking forward to seeing you all Tuesday to dive into Modernism!

Hey Lovelies, One and All: Take Note

2011-09-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Think about trying to submit here. The guidelines ask for art and mixed media and well, read up and see if you'd like to prepare something for it. I would be more than happy to help.

Also, Fiction, DON'T forget Esquire.

Interesting Links on the Writing Process (All Classes Read) and a REMINDER

2011-09-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

Lisa Olstein interview. Check out the impetus for her latest book. The moths and research.

And this adaptation. You guys could do something like this in a screenplay class and then build your own sets. It could be a school-wide collaboration. In any case, you might want to check it out. It is not so far away that going to see it would be impossible.

Jacqueline Osherow's book should be ordered soon. October will be upon us before long.

Syllabus Installment 09/15/11-10/06/11

2011-09-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

Writing Poetry
09/15 Thursday
Workshop continues
Homework: Read all of Elizabeth Bishop's selections and Trout by Kathryn Starbuck. As well as all of the Frank O'Hara selections here.

09/20 Tuesday
Workshop completion, discussion of readings.
Homework: Read Terrance Hayes (all) Richard Siken
and all of the poems in the various links for Ilya Kaminsky (there's lots of repetition, just skip around and graze)
and all of the poems here for Simone Muench. Consider how the New York School (O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, James Schuyler, John Ashbery, others) are working to influence the work of these contemporary poets. Consider which "moves" you would like to adopt for your next workshop poem (the imitation).

Thursday: 09/22
Discussion.
From the pieces that we've read, choose a poem to imitate. The imitation poem will be due on TUESDAY 10/04

09/27 Tues. Completion of workshop pieces. Discussion of some of the poets we've read.
Homework: Formal poetry readings: Elizabeth Bishop One Art and Sestina (the link is above and yes, I know you've read her but focus in on these two in particular for the formal poetry assignment.)
Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.

09/29 Thurs. Gallery/Museum ekphrasis assignment. Meet in class, go on to any of the exhibits on campus (the museum is probably your best bet). Select a piece of art and list at least 30 concrete words from it, (be sure to take down the title and artist as well) and write a poem that in some way engages with the art. You can write from the perspective of a character or object in the piece or simply use the words to form a poem with some of the same descriptive terms. You can write to the artist or as the artist in the poem. This will be due, typed, for Tuesday October 4.

10/04 Tues. Discussion of formal verse
Gallery Poems Due. Bring enough copies for all of us.
Homework: Read and comment upon the Ekphrastic poems. Be ready to discuss the poems thoroughly and thoughtfully and to have many comments written upon them before workshop. (You can write more during, as well.)

10/06 Thurs. Workshop of Ekphrastic Poems.
Homework: Have formal poems ready for next week.

Writing Fiction
09/15 Thursday
Workshop Group One.

Tuesday 09/21
Discussion of Readings.
Group Two stories due for distribution.

Contemporary Lit.
09/15 Thursday
Video: Dickinson, Whitman: Bio plus poems the to right, particularly America, I Sing the Body Electric, When I Heard the Learned... and When Lilacs Last...

09/20 Tuesday:
Have all Dickinson and Whitman selections read and your letters ready to read in groups.
You will be turning them into me on Thursday (slight extension). In your groups, you will read each letter and write the author a note about where the letter works best, where it gets confusing or could be improved. Feel free to suggest wild and interesting edits or revisions. This is the author's chance to really spruce the piece up before it gets turned in officially.

09/22 Thursday
Letters to be turned in to me at the beginning of class: typed, proofread, etc.
Discussion of Dickinson and Whitman.
Homework: Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper
AND
A Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf. Be able to discuss the stream-of-consciousness in Woolf's piece and what effect it has.

To Start Our Week

2011-09-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

Some senior citizen stripping action. Seriously, listen for the fun similes and use of poetic terms throughout.

Then, for interesting use of figurative language and really, just because she makes me smile:

This Week:

2011-09-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

09/06/11 Tuesday Writing Poetry
In class discussion of the poetic terms assignment.
Homework: Write at least ten couplets and follow the instructions for part two of your homework for the specifics. Bring in typed on Thursday for discussion.

09/08/11 Thursday: We'll discuss your couplets in groups, as a class.
Homework: Write a poem that will be used for your first workshop piece. Bring it in, typed, with copies enough for the class. We'll workshop through next week. Consider the need for lots of concrete, specific detail and feel free to revise/rewrite/edit the couplets assignment into that final draft of a poem for the workshop. Make sure your poem has a title and is proofread carefully.

Writing Fiction
09/06/11 Tuesday: Discussion Lorrie Moore. In-class writing.
Homework: Write an opening that imitates one of the stories we have read. Bring in enough copies to distribute it to your groups. (4-5)

09/08/11 Thursday: Group work with your story openings.
Homework: Read this Amy Hempel story. Group One have your first stories (3-5 pages) ready to distribute to the class on Tuesday. Group Two you will distribute on Thursday.

09/13/11 Tuesday Discussion of Hempel story. Homework: Read Group One's stories carefully and comment on them profusely. Write a final note of 250 words minimum that summarizes your advice and suggested edits for the piece. Don't forget to include the things that are working for it and those which you admire.

09/15/11 Thursday Group One Workshop. Group Two distributes stories.

Contemporary Literature

Tuesday 09/06/11 Discussion of Hemingway and Fitzgerald
Homework: Read Langston Hughes, the biographical material and all of the poems on the links to the right.
Check out Zelda Fitzgerald's artwork and paperdolls.

Thursday 09/09/11 Discussion of Jazz Age/Harlem Renaissance continues. Voices and Visions Langston Hughes, likely.
Read: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.

Tuesday 09/13/11 Discussion.
Thursday 09/15/11 Discussion.
Homework: Write a letter to one of the writers we've read. Discuss, in detail, some of the topics or a particular topic of their work. Feel free to agree, celebrate, disagree or question.

Jacqueline Osherow (textbook)

2011-09-06T05:55:00.001-07:00

Attn: Contemporary Lit. & Writing Poetry

Please note that Jacqueline Osherow's book, Whitethorn is required and must be available and in class with you by no later than October 1.

Writing Fiction: Osherow will be visiting our classes and her poetry is very narrative (story) in the best ways, while I am not requiring it for your classes, she will be here and willing to sign and discuss the poems. The reading on Monday October 24 is required but the book's purchase for your class is optional but recommended.

2011-09-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Catalog ID: LA496 Section: 01 Course Name: Contemporary Literature
Course Prerequisite: LA190 / Lecture or LA190 / e-Learning
Term: Autumn Meeting Day(s): Tuesday, Thursday Meeting Time(s): 2-3:20 p.m.
Class Location: KH208 Faculty Name: Sophia Kartsonis
Class Blog: www.zeldaville.blogspot.com
Department: Liberal Arts Division: English Email: Skartsonis@ccad.edu

Office Hours: T 9-11, H 10-11, Office Location: Kinney Hall
Course Description:
Involves the critical study of recent literature emphasizing characteristic forms and themes. Attention is given to the short story, novel, poetry, drama and experimental prose forms. The course will involve a combination of written assignments, discussions, traditional essays and quizzes, as well as creative responses to works of various contemporary poets and writers. Texts and emphases will vary with professor. 3 credits, meets for a total of 3 hours.
Course Goal: Learning to read, discuss and analyze contemporary works of literature.

Course Learning Outcomes: Students will examine literature from both a reader’s and writer’s perspective. Through a variety of presentations, group work, verbal and written responses, students will familiarize themselves with the themes that good writing illuminates, as well as learn how the ability to critique a piece of writing can hone critical thinking skills in the world outside the book.

CCAD Learning Goals:
Through the careful reading and analysis of poetry, drama, and varieties of prose, the course is designed to help students connect words and images into thoughtful responses and help them to master the art of reading texts and real-life situations with care.
Required Course Materials:
N/A
Required Text(s):
Jacqueline Osherow’s Whitethorn
http://www.amazon.com/Whitethorn-Poems-Press-Paperback-Original/dp/0807138355/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1315098067&sr=1-1
All links and handouts provided in class or through the blog.

Recommended Text(s):
TBA throughout

Schedule of Classes (including key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates):
(See Attached)
Methods/weights of Evaluation (this is a list of items that will be used as the basis for calculating students’ grades in the course, i.e., presentations, quizzes, projects, assignments 70%,
attendance &class participation 30%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):
Due dates are crucial, particularly for those assignments that involve class-wide presentation or discussion. Late work will not be welcome and if an assignment is not turned in for a student’s upcoming or workshop or a presentation is not ready, there is no way to make that up to the whole class. For this reason, those assignments must come in on time, students must be present for their own workshops and as they are given two free absences, it is expected that students save those for such occasions and to keep the instructor informed (at least eight hours before class is to begin, where possible) that there has been an issue or emergency. After three absences, the instructor reserves the right to request the student consider dropping the course. All work unless otherwise noted is to be typed, proofread and turned in as a final, to-be-graded, copy.
CCAD Academic Policies:
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Academic dishonesty may assume several forms. The most common are the use of unauthorized materials during exams, acquiring information from other students during an exam, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined by the following actions:
• Reproducing another person’s work and submitting it as one’s own
• Lifting material from other sources, including the Internet, to use in assignments without acknowledgment
• Using another person’s original ideas without providing appropriate credit
• Misrepresenting oneself as another individual to an instructor in the context of completing assignments or tests
• Participating in co-construction of assignments without the knowledge and approval of the instructor (not to be confused with legitimate and appropriate tutoring activities, which do not include actually completing another person’s work for him/her)
In all cases, if a student is unsure about a question of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the instructor should be consulted. Please consult the appropriate section under “Disciplinary Procedures” to learn about specific procedures involved in academic misconduct cases.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. Students may receive a failing grade if they have three or more absences in courses meeting once a week or four or more absences in courses meeting twice a week. For Summer Semester, the number of absences is computed on the basis of the total number of class hours missed (nine or more hours for studio courses and six or more hours for other courses). For May Minimester or summer sessions, missing 15% or more of a class constitutes an automatic failure. Students are reminded that they will receive a failing grade if they stop attending a course without properly dropping it. Dropping courses is the responsibility of the student.
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) A grade of incomplete (I) is given only in cases involving serious illness or unforeseen emergencies. In case of illness, a written verification may be required from the attending physician. The student should see the director of advising to process the proper medical documentation.
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. Students who violate college policies, cause harm to others, commit criminal acts, or engage in disruptive behavior on or off campus premises may be subject to disciplinary sanctions by the institution.

Attention: Fiction Writers & Anyone Else Who Loves Lovely Writing about Writing

2011-09-06T04:55:00.001-07:00

Read this.

Course Policy: Writing Poetry

2011-09-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Catalog ID: LA490B
Section: 01
Course Name: Writing Poetry

Course Prerequisite: LA190 / Lecture or LA190 / e-Learning
Term: Autumn
Meeting Day(s): Tuesday, Thursday Meeting Time(s): 11-12:20 p.m.
Class Location: KH224
Faculty Name: Sophia Kartsonis
Class Blog: www.zeldaville.blogspot.com
Department: Liberal Arts
Division: English
Email: Skartsonis@ccad.edu
Office Hours: T 9-11, H 10-11,
Office Location: Kinney 224
Course Description: Introduces students to the art of writing of poetry, the most ancient yet current of arts. Students will study aspects of poetics, learning a variety of techniques while reading and responding to both contemporary and canonical poets. The course involves a variety of writing exercises, the drafting of poems, and peer critiques, culminating in a small collection of poems and an essay at the end of the semester.
Course Goal To acquaint student with the craft of producing poetry and to help give them the terms and tools in which to assess and help revise and edit poems.

Course Learning Outcomes Students can expect to know more about a poem’s composition, both as an active verb and as a noun indicating its contents. There will be lessons on rhyme, meter, poetic terminology, and a variety of exercises in formal poetry designed to increase competence and understanding of the various styles and forms of verse from blank to free.

CCAD Learning Goals (these are the CCAD goals that are supported by this course):
Through the writing and analysis of poems, and the workshop, the course is designed to help students connect words and images into cogent, vibrant writing. Also, through the workshop model itself, students connect with one another to create a body of work that is more powerful for their collective insight. As the workshop environment creates an opportunity for both risk and community, it provides a means in which to reflect upon poetry as act of language distillation. Additionally, through mastery in the art of reading as a writer and writing as an astute, sensitive reader, students are better able to create artful writing overall.
Required Course Materials:
N/A
Required Text(s):
Jacqueline Osherow’s Whitethorn
http://www.amazon.com/Whitethorn-Poems-Press-Paperback-Original/dp/0807138355/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1315098067&sr=1-1
All links and handouts provided in class or through the blog.

Recommended Text(s):
TBA throughout

Schedule of Classes (including key events including assignments, projects due dates/exam dates):
(See Attached)
Methods/weights of Evaluation (this is a list of items that will be used as the basis for calculating students’ grades in the course: workshop participation, punctual, thorough, projects, assignments 70%,
attendance &class participation 30%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):
Due dates are crucial, particularly for those assignments that involve class-wide presentation or discussion. Late work will not be welcome and if an assignment is not turned in for a student’s upcoming or workshop or a presentation is not ready, there is no way to make that up to the whole class. For this reason, those assignments must come in on time, students must be present for their own workshops and as they are given two free absences, it is expected that students save those for such occasions and to keep the instructor informed (at least eight hours before class is to begin, where possible) that there has been an issue or emergency. After three absences, the instructor reserves the right to request the student consider dropping the course. All work unless otherwise noted is to be typed, proofread and turned in as a final, to-be-graded, copy.
CCAD Academic Policies:
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Academic dishonesty may assume several forms. The most common are the use of unauthorized materials during exams, acquiring information from other students during an exam, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined by the following actions:
• Reproducing another person’s work and submitting it as one’s own
• Lifting material from other sources, including the Internet, to use in assignments without acknowledgment
• Using another person’s original ideas without providing appropriate credit
• Misrepresenting oneself as another individual to an instructor in the context of completing assignments or tests
• Participating in co-construction of assignments without the knowledge and approval of the instructor (not to be confused with legitimate and appropriate tutoring activities, which do not include actually completing another person’s work for him/her)
In all cases, if a student is unsure about a question of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the instructor should be consulted. Please consult the appropriate section under “Disciplinary Procedures” to learn about specific procedures involved in academic misconduct cases.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. Students may receive a failing grade if they have three or more absences in courses meeting once a week or four or more absences in courses meeting twice a week. For Summer Semester, the number of absences is computed on the basis of the total number of class hours missed (nine or more hours for studio courses and six or more hours for other courses). For May Minimester or summer sessions, missing 15% or more of a class constitutes an automatic failure. Students are reminded that they will receive a failing grade if they stop attending a course without properly dropping it. Dropping courses is the responsibility of the student.
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) A grade of incomplete (I) is given only in cases involving serious illness or unforeseen emergencies. In case of illness, a written verification may be required from the attending physician. The student should see the director of advising to process the proper medical documentation.
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. Students who violate college policies, cause harm to others, commit criminal acts, or engage in disruptive behavior on or off campus premises may be subject to disciplinary sanctions by the institution.

And not to forget Contemporary Lit!

2011-09-01T07:02:00.001-07:00

Your homework (don't say I never gave you anything!)

Read: Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway.

and Winter Dreams as well as A Diamond as Big as the Ritz
by F.Scott Fitzgerald

Read carefully,as if there could be a quiz on them.

Writing Fiction Reading Homework

2011-09-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

You have the following by Lorrie Moore

Childcare (this has eight pages to it, make sure you are reading all of it.)

And How to Become a Writer

Come to class ready to discuss the similarities and differences in the author's voice. What is effective? What is less-so? Using the Glossary of Poetic Terms, identify some of the literary terms and devices that you see Moore employing.

Writing Poetry: Your Poetic Terms Assignment Here

2011-09-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

Inside a Twilight

Inside a twilight garden bright with hydrangeas, fireflies.
Irene and I pried the weeds up, our fingertips wise

to their hold. Halfway between happiness and heartburn
Irene said, halfway between hope and the hard hit of her

last good kiss. This is not an aphrodisiac town, but a place
where fingers lace through other fingers and miss, by a sliver

really holding on. We’ve drawn the blinds, withdrawn our dearest
offers, played the cards we were dealt with a shuffle, an array,

a Chinese fan cascading out from our magic hands we draw shapes
in the air, then put the deck away.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

GLOSSARY of Poetic Terms
-----------------

Considering some of the ideas we discussed in class and any additional things you pick up from the glossary, your assignment is two-part:

1. Identify all the types of rhymes and devices in the above poem. Consider the couplets as a unit and see how they interact, but also, see if you might spot moves or terms across the couplets and over the poem as a whole.
Bring in a copy of the poem with your margin notes regarding terms and devices.

2. Write your own set of couplets and employ at least one use of internal rhyme, slant rhyme, exact rhyme and at least two cases of enjambment. Plus, a minimum of one simile or metaphor, one example of alliteration, assonance and consonance. Remember to favor concrete, sensory detail over abstractions.

Course Policy WRITING FICTION

2011-08-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

Catalog ID: LA490A

Section: 01
Course Name: Writing Fiction
Course Prerequisite: LA190 / Lecture or LA190 / e-Learning
Term: Autumn Meeting Day(s): Tuesday, Thursday Meeting Time(s): 12:30-1:50 p.m.
Class Location: KH215
Faculty Name: Sophia Kartsonis
Class Blog: www.zeldaville.blogspot.com
Department: Liberal Arts Division: English
Email: Skartsonis@ccad.edu
Office Hours: T 9-11, H 10-11,
Office Location: Kinney Hall

Course Description: Focuses on the art of writing stories. In short stories, words are more than characters strung together to inform. This class will examine the ways literary strategies and interesting sentence structure make language into something artful. We will be looking at the craft and technique that comprise the most accomplished stories. With a combination of writing exercises and in-class workshops, we complete a number of smaller narrative assignments and some full-length stories. 3 credits, meets for a total of 3 hours.
Course Goal To acquaint student with the craft of producing stories and to help give them the terms and tools in which to assess and help revise and edit.

Course Learning Outcomes: Students can expect to know more about a novel or short story’s composition, both as an active verb and as a noun indicating the content. There will be lessons on scene, character, voice, point-of-view, and a variety of exercises designed to increase the sense of what is possible in writing stories.

CCAD Learning Goals:
Through the writing and analysis of stories, and the workshop, the course is designed to help students connect words and images into cogent, vibrant writing. Also, through the workshop model itself, students connect with one another to create a body of work that is more powerful for their collective insight. As the workshop environment creates an opportunity for both risk and community, it provides a means in which to reflect upon the story as act of “language art.” Additionally, through mastery in the art of reading as writers and writing as astute, sensitive readers, students are better able to create writing that is powerful in both form and function.
Required Course Materials:
N/A
Required Text(s):
All links and handouts provided in class or through the blog.

Recommended Text(s):
Jacqueline Osherow’s Whitethorn
http://www.amazon.com/Whitethorn-Poems-Press-Paperback-Original/dp/0807138355/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1315098067&sr=1-1
TBA throughout

Schedule of Classes:
(See Attached)
Methods/weights of Evaluation: projects & homework assignments, any quizzes or exams 70% attendance &class participation 30%):

Course Grading Policies (this is a list of policies regarding due dates, late submissions, standards and expectation regarding work, etc.):
Due dates are crucial, particularly for those assignments that involve class-wide presentation or discussion. Late work will not be welcome and if an assignment is not turned in for a student’s upcoming or workshop or a presentation is not ready, there is no way to make that up to the whole class. For this reason, those assignments must come in on time, students must be present for their own workshops and as they are given two free absences, it is expected that students save those for such occasions and to keep the instructor informed (at least eight hours before class is to begin, where possible) that there has been an issue or emergency. After three absences, the instructor reserves the right to request the student consider dropping the course. All work unless otherwise noted is to be typed, proofread and turned in as a final, to-be-graded, copy.
CCAD Academic Policies:
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Academic dishonesty may assume several forms. The most common are the use of unauthorized materials during exams, acquiring information from other students during an exam, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined by the following actions:
• Reproducing another person’s work and submitting it as one’s own
• Lifting material from other sources, including the Internet, to use in assignments without acknowledgment
• Using another person’s original ideas without providing appropriate credit
• Misrepresenting oneself as another individual to an instructor in the context of completing assignments or tests
• Participating in co-construction of assignments without the knowledge and approval of the instructor (not to be confused with legitimate and appropriate tutoring activities, which do not include actually completing another person’s work for him/her)
In all cases, if a student is unsure about a question of plagiarism or academic misconduct, the instructor should be consulted. Please consult the appropriate section under “Disciplinary Procedures” to learn about specific procedures involved in academic misconduct cases.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) ADA STATEMENT If you have a documented cognitive, physical, or psychological disability, which includes learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), depression, anxiety, or mobility, as described by Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is recommended that you contact Disability Services at 614-222-3292. They will assist you in arranging appropriate accommodations with the instructor.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) Students are required to attend all classes on their schedule. Students may receive a failing grade if they have three or more absences in courses meeting once a week or four or more absences in courses meeting twice a week. For Summer Semester, the number of absences is computed on the basis of the total number of class hours missed (nine or more hours for studio courses and six or more hours for other courses). For May Minimester or summer sessions, missing 15% or more of a class constitutes an automatic failure. Students are reminded that they will receive a failing grade if they stop attending a course without properly dropping it. Dropping courses is the responsibility of the student.
REQUESTING AN INCOMPLETE
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) A grade of incomplete (I) is given only in cases involving serious illness or unforeseen emergencies. In case of illness, a written verification may be required from the attending physician. The student should see the director of advising to process the proper medical documentation.
STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT
(see the Student Handbook for complete policy information) The college expects students to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the high ideals and standards that CCAD has set for its community and its students. Students who violate college policies, cause harm to others, commit criminal acts, or engage in disruptive behavior on or off campus premises may be subject to disciplinary sanctions by the institution.

2011-07-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

45 Mercy Street

In my dream,
drilling into the marrow
of my entire bone,
my real dream,
I'm walking up and down Beacon Hill
searching for a street sign -
namely MERCY STREET.
Not there.

I try the Back Bay.
Not there.
Not there.
And yet I know the number.
45 Mercy Street.
I know the stained-glass window
of the foyer,
the three flights of the house
with its parquet floors.
I know the furniture and
mother, grandmother, great-grandmother,
the servants.
I know the cupboard of Spode
the boat of ice, solid silver,
where the butter sits in neat squares
like strange giant's teeth
on the big mahogany table.
I know it well.
Not there.

Where did you go?
45 Mercy Street,
with great-grandmother
kneeling in her whale-bone corset
and praying gently but fiercely
to the wash basin,
at five A.M.
at noon
dozing in her wiggy rocker,
grandfather taking a nap in the pantry,
grandmother pushing the bell for the downstairs maid,
and Nana rocking Mother with an oversized flower
on her forehead to cover the curl
of when she was good and when she was...
And where she was begat
and in a generation
the third she will beget,
me,
with the stranger's seed blooming
into the flower called Horrid.

I walk in a yellow dress
and a white pocketbook stuffed with cigarettes,
enough pills, my wallet, my keys,
and being twenty-eight, or is it forty-five?
I walk. I walk.
I hold matches at street signs
for it is dark,
as dark as the leathery dead
and I have lost my green Ford,
my house in the suburbs,
two little kids
sucked up like pollen by the bee in me
and a husband
who has wiped off his eyes
in order not to see my inside out
and I am walking and looking
and this is no dream
just my oily life
where the people are alibis
and the street is unfindable for an
entire lifetime.

Pull the shades down -
I don't care!
Bolt the door, mercy,
erase the number,
rip down the street sign,
what can it matter,
what can it matter to this cheapskate
who wants to own the past
that went out on a dead ship
and left me only with paper?

Not there.

I open my pocketbook,
as women do,
and fish swim back and forth
between the dollars and the lipstick.
I pick them out,
one by one
and throw them at the street signs,
and shoot my pocketbook
into the Charles River.
Next I pull the dream off
and slam into the cement wall
of the clumsy calendar
I live in,
my life,
and its hauled up
notebooks.

Anne Sexton

Final Days Schedule

2011-07-05T06:34:00.001-07:00

Tuesday: Discussion of readings, possible quiz.

Wednesday: Presentation of your ekphrastic pieces. (You will be presenting and taking them with you, so feel free to work on something that you are invested in or want to do more with.)

Thursday: The Fall. Bring goodies, etc.

2011-06-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

http://youtu.be/rPK5dnE9CS4

2011-06-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

W 06/29

Homework: Read Robert Frost bio. and Design, The Road Less Traveled, Directive, Once, Then Something
Read Theodore Roethke bio. and My Papa's Waltz,
Allan Ginsberg bio and Howl (all parts) and A Supermarket in CA
Jack Kerouac bio. all poems and the intro to the Beats on the left side of the page.

These bios and poems are all potential quiz material. Read them carefully.

H 06/30
Homework:
The Confessionalists
Sylvia Plath bio. all poems and we'll discuss Metaphor in class. Also, on the left, the brief guide to Confessionalist poetry.
Anne Sexton bio. all poems.
Robert Lowell bio. Skunk Hour, Man and Wife.
John Berryman, bio. all posted Dreamsong poems.

Wednesday Class

2011-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

I will want you guys to be ready for a quiz on all of the reading selections for Tuesday. (Biship, Moore, Stevens) Class discussion is the only way I know that homework is getting done and since I am not hearing much from most of you, I feel that I have to use other means to get a sense of where you're at with the reading and understanding of it.

Have a sense of who wrote the poems and a good feeling for the most memorable lines. Any biographical materials are also fair game.

There will be more reading assigned for this week, but you will not be responsible for it for Wednesday.

See you soon and thanks,
s

Movie Day: The Fall

2011-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Let's make this happen.

2011-06-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

On the Trancendental.

2011-06-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 06/21 Homework
Read:
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

About The Angel in the House

The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf

On Stream-of-Consciousness

Also, here.

Read the bio and poems of ee cummings here.

Wednesday 06/22 Discussion of Gilman, Woolf and Cummings.
Moving into Modernism.
Homework: Read T.S. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Ezra Pound's biographical information plus The River Merchant's Wife and In a Station at the Metro and William Carlos Williams, read bio and all poems.

Thursday 06/23

Discussion of Modernism and Eliot, Pound, and Williams. As we do this week's hefty reading, begin considering selecting one for a thoughtful reading response. You might do a mock book review or compare themes in a couple of the piece. You could write a letter from one of the poets to another.
A brief glimpse at Imagism.
Read: Wallace Stevens, the bio. (remember I might quiz at any moment on any of these) and the poems: Sunday Morning, The Snowman, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour, The Emperor of Ice Cream and The Idea of Order at Key West.

Read Marianne Moore, bio. and all of the poems.

Elizabeth Bishop: Bio. plus The Fish, At the Fishhouses, In the Waiting Room, One Art
Tuesday 06/28 Discussion of Modernism and Moore, Stevens, Bishop, etc. Be sure you are caught up on reading and can talk across poems and poetry during our discussion.

Thursday: Discussion continues. Reading Response Homework due. Two double-spaced, typed, full-pages minimum. (12 pt. font, times new roman or garamond).

2011-06-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Walt Whitman Levis Commercial

Readings in American Lit.

2011-06-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

READINGS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE LA390/01
06/13/2011-07/08/2011
Tuesday through Thursday 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
KH 224
Sophia Kartsonis
zeldaville@yahoo.com

Text: We will work with various online texts. You are expected to read, note and bring in relevant print-outs.
Additionally, we will be watching many videos in here. The Voices and Visions series is invaluable for giving you a sense of the authors. Your attendance will be docked if you text, talk, sleep or open your laptop during these. (I will count you absent for any of the above, and that will mean dropping the course with the stringent absence policy I have for summer—see belowJ

Course Policy:
Attendance:
Because we are taking a fast train through the subject matter, as summer courses often require, attendance will be crucial. We will be reading a lot and dealing with that reading in class with writing assignments and activities.
You will be afforded one absence for reasons I will not need to know. I do not excuse any absence after that first one and if you accrue two absences (as the course is so short,) I will likely ask that you drop the course. Please don’t inform me as to the reason for your absence. What time you missed you will be expected to catch up on your own with the blog. Some things cannot be caught-up. Quizzes, class discussions, videos. Ideally, for a decent grade, you will be here every one of our too-few days.

Tardies: After two you have an absence.

Grades: You will be graded heavily on class participation and attendance: (30%) Your written work will comprise 70% of your total grade. Perfect attendance does not mean that you have that 30% guaranteed. I expect lively discussions and real engagement with the topics. I hate to resort to pop quizzes, but I have decided that we will be having quizzes many days before we begin discussion. It will be good for you to be prepared, have done the reading and to know that you will be quizzed.

The written work will consist of some reading responses, in-class exercises and at least one artistic or ekphrastic interpretation of the material. Please be generous and thoughtful in your class discussions.

Cell Phones: Please turn them off. Brain surgery can wait.

I am available to conference with you at any time throughout the course. Please contact me in class or through the email address and we can set a time to meet.
JUNE (flowers brought to you by April showers—exact rhyme
T 14 Introduction.
Literary Terms
The Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance
Homework: Read Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants
http://www.gummyprint.com/blog/archives/hills-like-white-elephants-complete-story/
Read Fitzgerald’s Winter Dreams
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/winterd/winter.html
and be prepared to discuss the central themes of each, character development, tone, plot and effectiveness of dialogue. What does each reveal and withhold about their character’s motivations? To what effect? From the literary terms glossary be able to distinguish between a protagonist and a narrator. Also, try to get a feel for the antagonist. If you’re unclear about point-of-view, let me know and we’ll go over them more thoroughly. This site has all of those, plus the terms omniscient and omnipotent. Be able to define all of the italicized words and use them in tomorrow’s class discussion.
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/terms/Literary.Terms.html
W 15
Read the poems of Langston Hughes and all of the introductory material on the main page. The links to the poems are on the right side of the page. Read the biographical material of Walt Whitman and all of the Songs of Myself poems, I Sing the Body Electric, When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd and When I Heard the Learned Astronomer. Be prepared to discuss the occasion of the poem: When Lilacs Last...
Read the biography of Emily Dickinson and the poems: Hope is the thing with feathers (254)
I cannot live with You (640) I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280) I heard a Fly buzz (465) I like to see it lap the Miles (43) I measure every Grief I meet (561)
I taste a liquor never brewed (214) I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl (443) I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260) It was not Death, for I stood up (510) It's all I have to bring today (26) Knows how to forget! (433) Like Brooms of Steel (1252) Luck is not chance (1350) My life closed twice before its close (96) One day is there of the series One Sister have I in our house (14) Safe in their Alabaster Chambers (216) The Outlet (162) The Savior must have been a docile Gentleman (1487) The Soul selects her own Society (303)

H 16
Watch the Voices and Visions video(return to the library).
Homework: Write a poem in imitation of either Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson or Langston Hughes. The poem must be a minimum of twenty lines and be typed. It will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday 06/21.

Extra Credit for Entering this Contest--If you're interested, I'll help you, let me know.

2011-06-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

EPOC Poetry Contest – 2011 ComFest
GUIDE LINES
Email submission with ComFest in the subject line to: hanseatin@columbus.rr.com
Submit up to 3 poems with no more than 40 lines each by: June 15, 2011
Address any and/or all of the following topics: Mountain Top Removal, Factory Farming,
Plastic Bags, Nuclear Power, Fracking, EWaste
Last Name – First Name
Child or Adult (18 years +)
E-mail
Title of Poem 1
Topic of Poem 1
Title of Poem 2
Topic of Poem 2
Title of Poem 3
Topic of Poem 3
PRIZES
Winners in both, the Children’s and the Adult Category receive 1st, 2nd or 3rd cash prizes ranging from $10 to $100 and/or ComFest T-Shirts/Memorabilia as well as a reading of their poems on one of the ComFest Stages.
Check in at the Solar Stage on 6/25 at 4:30pm if you would like to write a poem during our EcoPoetry Workshop with poets, facilitators and music.
Disclaimer:
The transcribers of these poems are not responsible for their accuracy in trying to decipher submissions that are handwritten .
Support the Environment with Your Voice!
WHAT IS ECO POETRY?
EcoPoetry conjures vivid details, rich history and intense nature imagery that channels the audience’s energy toward environmental activism. While staying true to their poetic intent, poets and audience explore the 3 Rs (reuse, recycle, reduce by weaving nature into language: connecting literary imagination to our landscape, natural history, and a sense of environmental urgency. Several formats lend themselves to EcoPoetry:
Call-and-Response Poems will reflect on sustainable farming practices, reversing watershed damage and minimizing air pollution through immersing rather than confronting the listener.
Personification Poems lead the listeners through role and group readings. Participants enjoy different poetic styles as a tool to address ecological issue thus encouraging them to engage in literary arts and environmental projects.
Traditional Poetry reveals the lyricist as relying solely on writing itself to promote change, i.e. the traditional strengths of poetry, its powers of observation, to teach others to be aware of the intimate connections between human beings and nature, to document the importance of nature, and most importantly, to call for the importance of human stewardship. Activist Poetics, both environmentalist and feminist in nature, enact a partnership ethic with nature, intended to alter, and better our communities.
The above and other forms of Interactive Poetry must pertain to Water, Soil, Air or Noise Pollution, Environmental Conservation or Preservation Issues. To express your concern for the degrading environment and awaken the audience, no other restrictions apply because poetry and the environment belong to everybody – or is that wishful thinking?
Discovering the limitations of environmental poetry as either promising hope or forecasting doom, brings about the understanding that they are similar in that they consider human beings as dominant over nature, with the power to either cure or destroy the planet. Poets may suggest a different approach such as a partnership with nature, whereby poetry could eventually lead to a change in individual ethics.
While listening to and/or engaging in creating poetry to protect the environment, we are reminded that the wild is still present and we must act to preserve rather than tame the still free and unmanaged. Recognizing this necessity, poetry can serve as a powerful means for environmental stewardship.

Another great long poem

2011-05-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Anne Sexton's Eighteen Days without You

A Trove of Phrases to Incorporate into your Long Poem

2011-05-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

Spider Daisy*Hot Red Pepper*Fall Garden Radichio*Annual Pink Begonia*Parade Confetti Fanfair*Quiet Providence Peach*Atlantic Peach Pink*Early Southern Dawn*Hardy Meadow Cranesbill*Petite Frozen Violet*Picturesque Gray Ocean*Meadow Harebell*Extreme Purple Luxury*Navy Night Horizon* Incredible Navy*Suspicious Finch*Summertime Shasta Daisy*Glass Slipper*Water-Colored Eye*Homemade Custard*Lyrical Lemon Grass*Mellow Mustard Gold*Dijon Dance-Slipper*Party Gown*Kingdom's Brazen Gold*Snakeskin Sandal*Metal Petal Gloss*Forgotten Antique Yellow*Awakened Azalea*Swan Lake Mist*Musical Dress Shoes*Pogo Stick*Pixie Stick*African Safari*Canopy Bedspread*Deepest Tangerine Grove*Orange Mondragon*Rhodendron*Ruby Radish Promise Ring*Outdoor Wedding*Brass Band*Fresh Topic Orange*Sugared Melon Crush*Soft Splendid Peach*Garden Light Peach*Mellow Modest Peach*Cloud Formation*Frozen Praline*Essence of Blue*Baby Nubuck*Bluebell Garden*Natural Sundance*Lost at Sea*Blue Raspberry Icee*Fall Harvest Spice*Coriander Weather*Collander*Sorrel*Candied Sweet Potato*Cherished Blue Diamond*Rhinestone Eternity Ring*Crushed Sapphire*Vintage Copper Classic*Limitless Cosmos Blue*Eastern Kimberly Cedar*Deep Heliotrope*Silk Parachute*Trellis Dark Ivy*Courtyard Ground Cover*Emerald Clover*Pine Forest Shade*Satin Hammock*Ravine Rock Moss*Laurel Delancy Green*Lana Turner's Pout*Reflecting Windowpane*MacKenzie Green Ash*See-through Sycamore*Young Budding Green*Western Wild Asparagus*Spring Green Twig*New Palmetto Leaf*Sunset Boulevard*Coney Island Pie-Moon*Greenhouse Basil*Ravenna Olive Grove*Amazing Amazon*Wild Violet Pansy*Nepal Eggplant*Old Thimbleberry Blossom*Thumbelina Bloom*Soft Visibly Violet*Bouquet of Violence*Bruised Knees*Faded Pale Amethyst*Prussian Pasque Flower*Sundrenched White Plum*Light China Aster*Orchid Italina Aster*Dinosaur Kale*Pink & Pretty Petunia*Tunafish Sunrise*Wild Berry Purple*Salmon Spider Lily*Whitest White*Holiday Cozumel Aqua*Secret Locket*Frozen Ice Crystal*Love Bite*Bitter Boy*Garden Urn*Trusted True Blue*Bitter Sour Apple*Brittle Bones*Country Fog*Flaming Red Hot*Ebony Stone Black*Gray Granite*Bermuda Blue*Japanese Windflower*Carnival Harlequin*Holiday Cozumel Aqua*Prickly Pear Green*Bermuda Blue*Deep Heliotrope*Field Day*Seafaring Teal*Charm Bracelet*

finished a very rough first draft of the sestina

2011-05-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

one hundred and fifty total lines and in real need of revision. But I did keep my word. Just wanted you all to know. I can't wait to read yours!

2011-05-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

Villanelle Engine

The Long Poem Readings

2011-05-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Poem to Keep What I Love by Taije Silverman

Elegy for the Saint of Letting Small Fish Go by Eliot Khalil Wilson

2011-05-23T09:03:00.001-07:00

Formal Poetry Reading Homework:

Villanelle form
Examples: Read One Art by Elizabeth Bishop and Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night by Dylan Thomas (both have links on the left of the villanelle description on the above link.)

Sestina

Read all of the examples plus Elizabeth Bishop's Sestina

Sonnet

Read about the varieties of sonnets and at least six examples.

2011-05-20T07:57:00.001-07:00

The Glossary of Poetic Terms is here. Also, our own Lisa was kind enough to post another link under the comments section in an earlier post. Use whichever works for you and have a wonderful weekend. (Don't forget Frank O'Hara!)

2011-05-19T09:30:00.001-07:00

Erasure Link

2011-05-19T07:24:00.001-07:00

COURSE POLICY & SYLLABUS

2011-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Writing Poetry
Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
KH 207
Sophia Kartsonis
zeldaville@yahoo.com

Text:
Various online poems. Please have a printout available for days we are discussing them.
Optional: Rhyme’s Reason by John Hollander. http://www.amazon.com/Rhymes-Reason-Guide-English-Verse/dp/0300088329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274092178&sr=8-1
Available online at Amazon for a song.

Course Policy:
Attendance:
Because we are taking a fast train through the subject matter, as summer courses often require, attendance will be crucial. We will be reading a lot and dealing with that reading in class with writing assignments and activities.
You will be afforded one absence for reasons I will not need to know. I do not excuse any absence after that first one and if you accrue two absences (as the course is so short,) I will likely ask that you drop the course.

Tardies: After two you have an absence.

Grades: You will be graded heavily on class participation and attendance: (30%) Your written work will comprise 70% of your total grade. Perfect attendance does not mean that you have that 30% guaranteed. I expect lively discussions and real engagement with the topics. I hate to resort to pop quizzes, but if during discussion it becomes apparent that a few of us have done the reading and the rest are coasting, I will administer a quiz.

The written work will consist of some reading responses, many in-class exercises, and the “letters to the authors” and comments on workshop poems. Please be generous and thoughtful in your assessments and comments on other’s work.

Cell Phones: Please turn them off. Brain surgery can wait.

I am available to conference with you at any time throughout the course. Please contact me in class or through the email address and we can set a time to meet.

MAY
M 16 Introduction. Discussion of James Dickey's Falling
Assignment: Your own poem inspired by a news piece or fairytale or myth.
T: 17 Ekphrasis Assignment: Go to museum, select a piece of art and jot down a minimum of 25 concrete words about it. Write a poem using as many of the words as you and assonance, alliteration, consonance, a simile and/or a metaphor.
W: 18 Workshop of News poems.
H 19: Discussion of Auden and your ekphrasis poems.
Homework: Write a poem based on negation. Read Free Verse: Frank O’Hara: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/ohara/ohara.htm
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=5092
Fun to Browse through online (Poet Among Painters)
http://books.google.com/books?id=31Pqv32Fh0QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Frank+O%27Hara&source=bl&ots=uAhwh65_YB&sig=buEKI5iTf6_xVgp1d4ampXehGaQ&hl=en&ei=XiXxS-DzJsT38Aby2ND9Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12&ved=0CDQQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q&f=false
In-Class Writing.

F 20: Poetic Terms. Discussion of blank verse and free verse. Voices and Visions Robert Frost. In-Class Writing.
Homework: Bring in some song lyrics that you consider to be a poem or to be poetic. If possible, bring us the means to hear or play the song, as well as access to the lyrics on the page. (You can use the computer and projector so as to save the environment some grief.) Anyway, using your new shiny terms of poetry, talk about how and why this piece strikes you as poetic.
M 23: Discussion of song lyrics and verse. Introduction to Formal Verse.
Homework: Write a sonnet, villanelle or sestina. Bring in enough copies for the class.
T 24 workshop formal poems Possible Hart Crane video.
homework: Begin to think about your long poem. (Two pages or so.)
W 25 Discussion: The Long Poem Hart Crane, Walt Whitman, Eliot Khalil Wilson, Taij Silverman
H 26 Workshop of your long poems.
F 22 Your rewrites are due. A significant rewrite of four of the poems you've done for class.
Two-Day Caesura

2011-05-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Omar for this idea.

Here's the painting:

and the poem:
Musee des Beaux Arts
W. H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,
The old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position: how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

and a take by William Carlos Williams:

William Carlos Williams

According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring

a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry

of the year was
awake tingling
with itself

sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax

unsignificantly
off the coast
there was

a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning

Writing Poetry Update for Tuesday

2011-05-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Your course policy is forthcoming, but for now, please note that we will start as per our discussion today, at 9:15. Make sure to bring your poems as we will distribute them for a Wednesday workshop.

Update all lit. classes

2011-05-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Poetry of Witness & Survival: We'll be discussing Fellner's book and reading and be starting Sean Thomas Dougherty tomorrow and reaching into Thursday.

Contemporary Literature: I have a medical appointment to attend at noon and will therefore, be giving you a day off. Please be ready to discuss Fellner's work and reading on Thursday.

ALL STUDENTS IN ATTENDANCE OF STEVE FELLNER'S READING: Thank you--even though you know that there was much to be gained by having been there. (As with most of life...)
I noted your attendance and as it was mandatory, it will be very useful for the upcoming grading for the class. Those of you there and perfect with your questions and engagement, made me feel proud (once again, as always) to have you in my classes. Steve remarked several times at the intelligence and poise of our students here.

"LEAPFROG FIVE:" Five Similes or Metaphors about Five Images

2011-04-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Choose five of the following images and from each, spin off five metaphors or similes:
Example: Cloud(s) are (like) cottonballs, sheep, water, cars, pistols...

Some images you might use: lily, spire, moon, star, sun, fish, hair, eyelash, bruise, bicycle, corduroy, fingernail, grapes, crevice, wood/grain, daffodil, spike, hoods...

Start with the first comparison you can and move into more and more strange imagery from there.

After you write five comparisons for five images, incorporate them into a new scene (for a new story or an existing story).

If you would like, use one of the following prompts or trigger statements to get you going:

1. If it hadn't been for_____________

2. The sky said as much on______________

3. (We, You, I, Matilda, etc.) rode out to________ (looking for, listening to, tasting or smelling) ____________________

For more opening lines, you can use any lines from the poem on the Tupelo Poetry Project. (Google this phrase as I am having difficulty with the link on this Mac.)

Sascha Sings Laundry on the Line

2011-04-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Review to be read by the students reading this book for class.

CONTEMPORARY LIT.

2011-04-19T10:07:00.001-07:00

Remember that next Thursday (04/28) your ekphrasis assignment is due (Poetry of Witness and Survival, yours is still due THIS Thursday.) You will be producing a piece of art based on the literature we've been reading.

2011-04-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

Don't forget your two index cards of words: One set of five minimum that are UGLY to you and one set of five min. that are ATTRACTIVE to you.

And for the prompts that I discussed in class go to

http://www.tupelopress.org/poetryproj.php

MENU POEMS 2010

2011-04-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was hoping that the new menus would be up, but for now, here is the most recent.

Contemporary Lit & Fiction Workshop Upcoming Homework

2011-04-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Fiction Workshop:
Make sure you get two index cards and begin to list words on one (5-10 words will do--per card) that are beautiful to you and on the other, words that are ugly. The only rules here are to be respectful. Some words that are hideous are so because they are deeply offensive. Try others. Be legible as we will be swapping these. (DUE THURSDAY APRIL 12)

Contemporary Literature: Read the following poems (all) by Wallace Stevens as well as Sunday Morning.We'll discuss these on Tuesday.

For Fiction Workshop, I did the assignment with you

2011-03-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

After Sam, there was no more daily-vitamin, I sort of curled up, unwilling to give my body the extra years of what I could only picture as alone years. Then months gathered up in folds and when I pictured time like that: some blanket ocean frozen on its way in, I started trying to rejoin the human world.

I started craving certain foods again, imagining their flavors and textures in my mouth and not just taking in a portion of some nutrition that tasted only, always of sawdust.
So it was when I remembered smoothies the milky pastel shapes and the mellow tartness that I went down to Edith's and asked for a mango-peach and watched as a woman at a nearby table arranged a collection of vitamins that she took and washed down with a chai latte.

Vitamins, I remembered now, that ritual of faith each morning as I made sure to make a piece of toast and swallow the colorful handful consisting of one multi. extra C,E, calcium and magnesium and fish oil. I always took that one last, reveling in the look of it, a drop of sunlight, a single teardrop of gold. I remembered my birthstone: topaz and how in childhood its color was such a color but later it got a publicist, a marketing campaign and could mostly only be found now in shades of blue or a chocolaty color called smoke. I recalled the gems class that I took one spring break and found out that true gem-diagnostics don't employ color so I have no way of knowing if the little placard in my costume jewelry box that reads "November: Topaz" bears any resemblance however golden or smoky or blue, to anything in the real mineral world.

SPRING BREAK ALL CLASSES

2011-03-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Obviously, I had different plans for the week of March 21st than you probably did.
I guess your dumb plan (sun, relaxation, play) out carpe diems mine. Some of you do have a reading assignment that is placed in that week but you are welcome to do it earlier or the Sunday or Monday of the next.

WRITING FICTION

2011-03-01T06:01:00.001-08:00

Week Six: 03/01-03/03
T: Completion of Round One Workshops
In-class writing, reading assignment.
HOMEWORK: Bring an object that seems, in some way mysterious to you. Bring something that you don't mind handing over to someone else. It can be an object from the natural world: feather,seashell pinecone, stone, or something more manmade: page from magazine, a postcard, a small figurine,piece of glass, beads, tin foil sculpture,foreign currency, origami...

H: In-class writing, reading
Homework: Reading assignment TBA.

Week Seven 03/08-03/10

T In-Class Writing & Discussion
H NO CLASS TODAY.
Homework: Workshop Round Two Begins
Group One be ready with second stories for distribution on Thursday, Group Two the following Tuesday and so on.

Week Eight 03/15-03/17

T TBA
H Group One Distributes Stories

Week Nine 03/22-03/24
T Group One Workshops
Group Two distributes

H Group Two workshops
Three distributes

Week Ten 03/29-
T Group Three workshops
Four distributes
H Group Four workshops
Five distributes

Week Eleven
T Group Five workshops
Homework:

H TBA

Poetry of Witness...

2011-03-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

Week Five 02/22-02/25T Continued Discussion of WWI and the Soviets
H Writing Assignment due.
Discussion.
Homework: Read the introduction to WWII (p. 177-178)

Week Six 03/01-03/03
T Continued discussion of Russian Poets.
Homework: Read Spanish Civil War section 147-170
Read pp. 179-199 inclusive of all biographical notes on each poet.
H Discussion of Spanish Civil War and possible intro to WWII.
Homework: Read pp. 222-253

Week Seven 03/08-03/10
T Discussion of WWII selections.
Homework: pp..277-288 and pp. 324-355 choose some representative poems for discussion and observe the difference in form and formal strategies used throughout.

H NO CLASS TODAY.
Homework: Read Holocaust bio and pp. 357-383

Week Eight 03/15-03/17

T TBA (Likely an in-class video/movie)
H WWII and Holocaust Discussions

Week Nine 03/22-03/24
T 03/22 continued discussion
H 03/24 continued discussion

Homework: Readings from Eastern & Central Europe Section Intro (405) through Milosz (442) and 455-467 (through Cassian’s poems)

Week Ten
T 03/29 Discussion of Eastern & Central Europe readings
Homework: Read selections from Mediterranean section including intro. 487-507
Also, from Indo-Pakistani 521-526
H 03/31 Discussion
Homework: Readings:War in the Middle East p. 529 and pp.542-564 (Kovner, Amichai, Adonis, Darwoush)
And Latin America: 567-578
Week Eleven
T 04/05 Discussion.
Reading Homework: Civil Rights 621-662 and from Vietnam & Korea 677-693
H 04/07
Homework:
Vietnam Section
Next assignment: write a short poem from one of the pieces at the Wick Speak Peace exhibit. Bring the piece to class and be prepared to show the piece that inspired it.
http://www.soldiersheart.net/pdf/vietnamese_childrens_art_exhibit.pdf
Readings:
Week Twelve
T 04/12 Continued Discussion
H 04/14 Continued Discussion
Homework: An ekphrastic response to anything we have read so far. This will be an assignment to be presented and is due at the beginning of class on Thursday 04/21

Week Thirteen: 04/19-04/21
T 04/19 Discussion continued or TBA.
H 04/21 PRESENTATION OF Ekphrastic pieces
Homework: Read Blind Date with Cavafy and be prepared to discuss it.

Week Fourteen: 04/26-04/28
04/26 Discussion of Fellner’s book
04/28 “ “ “
Homework: Read Dougherty’s book and be prepared to discuss it next week.
MANDATORY READING: Monday Consider some things that you would like to ask Steve Fellner about his work.
Monday, May 2, 11 a.m.–12:30 p..m Canzani Center
Steve Fellner's first book of poems, Blind Date with Cavafy, won the 2006 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and the 2008 Thom Gunn Gay Male Poetry Award. “Steve Fellner’s poems have a wonderful innocence and playfulness that so many of us lose or forget that we have,” said Jim Daniels. “They sneak up on you—while you’re laughing and admiring their wit and sparkle, they’ll swoop down and kick your ass.”
Fellner’s 2007 memoir, All Screwed Up, focuses on his relationship with his ex-trampoline-champion mother. He currently lives in Brockport, New York. Presented by the English Department of CCAD’s Liberal Arts Division.

T 05/03 Discussion of Sasha Sings…
H 05/05 Continued discussion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week Fifteen
05/10 TBA
05/12 Final Day of Class. TBA

Lit Classes (both) Postscript:

2011-02-28T03:54:00.000-08:00

No, we're not skipping the Spanish American section. Read all of it (Intro and all poems and we'll get a discussion in on it soon.) Don't worry about having it read for tomorrow as I sprung a last minute WWII reading on you (just the intro for tomorrow.)

Contemp. Lit & Poetry of W & S WWII Reading For Now

2011-02-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

Just make sure you've read the intro to the WWII section in Against Forgetting. We've still some Russians to read.

Thanks fo Alejandro for this one.

2011-02-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

I opened my email to find the subject line Writers Who Die!

It is relevent and not uninteresting, if not a little morbid.

For those who missed today, this is worth seeing

2011-02-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

Tonya: In particular, I recalled your enthusiasm to go over Sassoon and Owen and hated to do so without you. This is much of what we did. See you soon!

Interesting Trivia about Our WWI-ers

2011-02-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

Writers Who Were Ambulance Drivers in WWI

•Ernest Hemingway
•John Dos Passos
•E.E. Cummings
•Somerset Maugham
•John Masefield
•Malcolm Cowley
•Sidney Howard
•Robert Service
•Louis Bromfield
•Harry Crosby
•Julian Green
•Dashiell Hammett
•William Seabrook
•Robert Hillyer
•John Howard Lawson
•William Slater Brown
•Charles Nordhoff
•Sir Hugh Walpole
•Desmond MacCarthy
•Russell Davenport
•Edward Weeks
•C. Leroy Baldridge
•Samuel Chamberlain
Related Occupation
•Gertrude Stein, visited hospitals and drove for American Fund for French Wounded)
•Marjory Stoneman Douglas, worked at American Red Cross headquarters in Paris because she was in love with an ambulance driver
•E.M. Forster, interviewed wounded in Egyptian hospitals
•Dorothea Francis Canfield Fisher, made home in France for husband while he was ambulance driver
•Archibald Cronin, doctor
•Edmund Wilson, stretcher bearer
•Anne Green, nurse

The Trouble with "Truth"

2011-02-20T11:07:00.001-08:00

Lit. classes (both of you) here is an interesting look at some of the issues we have been discussing in class.

Contemporary Lit. & Poetries of W & S

2011-02-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

The iamb saunters through my book
Trochees rush and tumble
While the anapest runs like a hurrying brook
Dactyls are stately and classical

From the Table of Forms

2011-02-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Daniel Varoujan poems

Poetries of W & S and Contemp. Lit.

2011-02-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

Week of 02/15
T 02/15
Discussion Armenian Genocide. Homework: Reading 95-145 Revolu
tion & Repression in the Soviet Union
(We will be discussing this next week, and since you have a writing assignment due on Tuesday, too. I wanted to give you time. The bulk of this reading is indiv. poems so the pages are not so bad as they seem.)

H 02/17
Discussion WWI section (61-93 in Against Forgetting).
Homework: The writing assignment due on Thursday and all of the material in the Soviet section (see above).

Writing assignment: 02/22 For Thursday of next week, be prepared to turn in a piece that covers some facet (a figure, a piece of writing, an artwork,) from one of the areas we have covered and write a creative response to it.
It can be an imaginary letter, a poem, a short story, a scene as from a play, or a dramatic monologue (see Robert Browning's My Last Duchess for a great example, or Girl by Jamaica Kinkaid--both very easily found online). If the chosen assignment is a poem, it must be twenty-lines or more. If you want to get fancy or visual, you can do something like the stuff we saw in Born magazine. (Eliot Wilson's Blank Verse for the Man we Threw from the Sky.) If you have an idea that you find engaging, run it by me. This will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday 02/22

Fiction Workshop

2011-02-15T04:27:00.001-08:00

Week of February 15
T-Workshop Two, In-Class Writing
Group 3 Distributes stories.

H-Workshop 3
Group 4 Distributes

Week of February 22
T-Workshop 4
Group 5 Distributes

H-Workshop 5
Homework: Read this review and be ready to discuss it in class. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/23/books/redheaded-hellions-in-the-crape-myrtle.html

IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT THE CLASS:
1. When you are being workshopped, you are not to respond to comments or speak during your workshop. You will get a chance after the workshop to ask a question or make a comment. Please remember this rule as it not only makes it hard for readers to see your story anew, but it wastes workshop time.

2. Your grade will suffer immensely if you are not there on the day of your workshop or if you do not have stories ready to distribute the day before workshop day. These workshops (and your thoughtful, lively presence) are what make up the grade in this course. I cannot base grades on excuses why you were not there or prepared and if I do, they will be grades that differ greatly from your peers. Some of you have already delivered a surplus of reasons why you are not doing the work of the course when it is due and we are only a few weeks into the course. You might really want to consider your commitments, scheduling and time pressures and see if you really should be enrolled in this course at this time. If you decided to stay, please note that I will not punish students who follow the rules and requirements of the course by having your grade and theirs in the same ballpark.

I admit to serious frustration last week and a dread of more of the same, so I expect that you will all be in class, with the stories to be workshopped commented-upon and that you will too, provide verbal comments to the authors. When your group is about to be workshopped, you will have the stories ready and when you are being workshopped, you will take notes and listen thoughtfully. I love teaching and don't want to feel as I felt on Thursday again.

For my Fiction Workshop

2011-02-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is in place of a temper tantrum (plus I have long-loved it and had only recently found it again):

Did I Miss Anything?

Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Everything, I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose

Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth

Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?

Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been
gathered
but it was one place

And you weren’t here

Tom Wayman

Fiction Workshop

2011-02-10T04:41:00.001-08:00

Week of 02/08-02/10

T: Group One Workshops
Group Two distributes.

H: Workshops for what remains of Group One and Group Two
Group Three distributes their stories.

Week of 02/15-02/17

T: Group Three Workshops
Group Four Distributes

H: Group Four Workshops
Group Five (?) Distributes.

Poetries of Witness & Contemporary Lit Homework

2011-02-10T04:33:00.000-08:00

Week of 02/08-02/10

T Discussion of Intro to Forche's Book
Homework: The Armenian Genocide Section (see below for page #s)

H Continued Discussion
Homework: All of the WWI section 61-93 in Against Forgetting.

Be quiz-ready on this material and the Armenian section. We will be discussing these through next week and so choose poems that you really like, dislike or just want to discuss.

HOMEWORK FOR CONTEMP. LIT & POETRY of WITNESS...

2011-02-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Read all of the Armenian genocide section. (pp. 55-62) We'll discuss the reading on Thursday. (For Contemporary Lit. please note that we'll pick up the intro. reading that we had to miss today because I am coughing my life away.)

WRITING FICTION

2011-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

H 01/27 Discussion of Girl by Jamaica Kinkaid
Assigned Groups and order for workshop.
Read: A Good Man is Hard to Find
Some assignments to choose from:

Trigger Sentences:
1. We were not getting any____________, there was ______________ to consider and ______________

2.After____________, things changed, not in _____________ ways but _______________

3.Believe something, ___ told ___________, even if it's_________________

4. The ingredients are the same for_____________ as for_____________

Or set a scene in a place that contains trees. Have a character engaging with the landscape in some way while another character tells a story.

Or write a scene in which two characters are disagreeing over something based on a mishearing. Include a kind of soda and a day of the week.

Reading Homework for Poetry of Survival and Contemporary Lit.

2011-01-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.theminnesotareview.org/journal/ns61/wilson.htm

Unemployment

Meteoric Rise, The Saint..., Closer to TX(read all but Goodbye Tuscaloosa and look for themes that deal with class, witness, survival, the political issues we have been discussing.)

Designing a Bird from Memory http://www.bornmagazine.org/projects/designing/

First reading assignment for Against Forgetting
All of the Intro. p. 29-47
Make notes and think about the issues Forche mentions in light of the poems we've been reading so far.

Reading Homework for Poetry of Survival and Contemporary Lit.

2011-01-21T05:31:00.001-08:00

Those Winter Sundays Robert Hayden

Elegy for Jane Theodore Roethke

September 1, 1939 W.H. Auden

Analysis of the poem, be prepared to discuss her argument and your agreement or disagreement with it. (Print and notate it.)

Channel Firing Thomas Hardy

WRITING FICTION

2011-01-20T09:04:00.000-08:00

HOMEWORK:
Read Jamaica Kinkaid's Girl: http://www.my-island-jamaica.com/girl_by_jamaica_kincaid.html

For those of you who were stuck on the internal monologue assignment, this might help you generate a piece.

Remember to type in what you have and bring it to class to discuss what you wrote or (if you want to) to read it or part of it aloud.

READING LIST FOR LA496-02 Contemporary Literature

2011-01-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

What: LA496-02 Contemporary Literature
When: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:30-1:50
Where: KH 224
Who: Sophia Kartsonis
How:
Required Texts:
Against Forgetting, edited by Carolyn Forche. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN-10: 0393309762
All Screwed-Up by Steve Fellner. Publisher: Benu Press; First edition (June 8, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0981516335 ISBN-13: 978-0981516332

READING LIST FOR LA498-05 Poetry of Witness & Survival

2011-01-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

What: LA498-05 The Poetry of Witness & Survival
When: Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:30 a.m.-10:50 a.m.
Where: KH 224
Who: Instructor; Sophia Kartsonis
How:
Required Texts:
Against Forgetting, edited by Carolyn Forche. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN-10: 0393309762
Sasha Sings Laundry on the Line by Sean Thomas Dougherty Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd. (September 21, 2010) ISBN-10: 1934414395 ISBN-13: 978-1934414392
Blind Date with Cavafy by Steve Fellner
Publisher: Marsh Hawk Press (March 31, 2007) ISBN-10: 097855552X ISBN-13: 978-0978555528

PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

2011-01-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

2010-12-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

The Snow-Storm

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly,
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

1835 [1841] Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sliding into Home Fiction/Contemporary Lit./Poetry

2010-12-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Writing Fiction
Tuesday 12/14/10 Turn in final stories. Workshops by request.
Thursday 12/16/10 Continuation of Workshops (Watch the blog in case of severe weather.)

Contemporary Literature
Tuesday 12/14/10 Continued discussion. Possible film.
Thursday 12/16/10 Optional final day. Watch blog in case of severe weather.

WRITING POETRY

Wednesday 12/15/10 Final poems Workshop.

HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY AND BE SAFE!

Contemporary Lit. Assignment

2010-12-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Write an elegy to an abstraction or inanimate object.

Consider Neruda's Odes for tone or the way O'Hara wrote of Billie Holiday's death or Lana Turner's collapse. Keep the tone more colloquial, full of details and a strong sense of voice. When writing about abstractions, avoid using many of them.

The poem must be ten lines minimum and brought in on Thursday, typed.

HOWL (Allan Ginsberg movie)

2010-12-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

Attention all classes. Just now I am not pulling any showtimes for Friday of this week. I think if we check later on, that might change. For now, there are showtimes for Thursday night and if you're interested in doing so, you might assemble a group to go see the film. It is said to be excellent. I think there is a 7:50 showing on Thursday night and many available showtimes for today/Wednesday. Email me if you're gathering a group and I'll announce it here.
Thanks, s

Poetry Workshop

2010-11-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

W 12/01 Bring in the imitations with copies enough for all. Read all of Don Bogen's book for discussion after workshop. Our workshop will be leaner (less me-speak) and we'll try to get through in one class or just over. Your final assignments will be two significant rewrites and an imitation of some aspect of Don Bogen's work. Those will be due on the last day of class UNLESS we have time for one more workshop, and then you'll be able to share them.

F 12/03 Workshop and/or An Algebra discussion.

W 12/08 An Algebra discussion
F 12/10 Workshop
W Turn in final packets: Two significant revisions & Bogen Imitation. (If we moved quickly enough, the Bogen imitation will have been workshopped and you will get to provide it as a third revision instead of first draft.)

F 12/17 YOUR HOLIDAY HAS BEGUN! HAVE A WONDERFUL BREAK & THANKS--You've been great to work with.

2010-11-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to those of you who remembered the questions for Lesley Jenike. (Sorry I forgot to ask for them.) I'll get those to her and get us started.

Have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving!

POETS

2010-11-17T08:14:00.001-08:00

w 11/17 Discussion of Ghost of Fashion.
Homework:
Read the poems from the NY poets below.
Please read: Frank O'Hara's Why I am Not a Painter, The Day Lady Died and Lana Turner Has Collapsed. (Same site as Why I am Not)

ALSO, have a question ready to ask Lesley Jenike about her book.

Also, Kenneth Koch's One Train May Hide Another & To You.

F: We'll complete the conversation about Jenike and look at the NY poets, as well.
Homework: Imitation of Jenike's poems. Some aspect or format. A response. Whatever inspires you from her work to yours.

Poetry Workshop

2010-11-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

F 11/12 Group-led discussion of Jenike's book
Homework: Begin to decide what you will be imitating from Jenike's work. Which techniques? A particular poem? Bring copies sufficient for the class to be distributed on Friday 11/19.

W 11/17 Discussion of Jenike continued. We'll formulate our questions for her, etc.
Homework: Imitation poem

F 11/19 Distribution of workshop poems.
Homework: Read and comment upon workshop poems. Begin Don Bogen's book and be prepared to discuss it after Thanksgiving Break.

ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY! BE SAFE!

Contemporary Literature

2010-11-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

T 11/09/10 Watch Robert Lowell video, complete Confessionalist Movement.

Next stop: New York, School, that is. Read the essay about the school (hot-linked over the words NY School)
and this essay on Frank O'Hara as a Poet Among Paintersand this one on

Frank O'Hara

I would like for you to read all of the O'Hara poems, as well.

In anticipation of our ekphrastic assignment, please read this piece on Ekphrasis. Keep in mind that we are going to go about "ekphrasis" in a kind of reversal. You are going to be able to use poetry or literature to inspire art.

This assignment will be due the Thursday before the Thanksgiving holiday (November 18th) You will be presenting whatever your response is to ANY of the authors we've studied or any that you get approval from me to use.

H 11/11 Discussion of New York School
Homework all of Kenneth Koch's poems on this site and the biographical bit, too.

T 11/16 Continued New York School, Kenneth Koch,

H 11/18 Ekphrastic assignment presentations.