Remember, in addition to this assignment, you are reading Amy Hempel's story (link below) and are prepared to discuss it on Thursday. (Friday class, you will do the writing exercise and we'll discuss Hempel on Wednesday of next week.)
Words:
W-F: vicarious, akimbo, reticent, lavish, plethora, Contusion, Pluck, Philander,asundry, Cocktail, intoxication, silhouette, fusion
Prestidigitation Eulogia Genteel Necrosis Jugulation Torsion Corporal Angioplasty
Consumption Catharsis Azure Yawp Gossamer Merkin
1. Were it not for__________, might have ______________
2. There are no absolutes in _________, except for __________ and _____________.
3. Every good____________ relies on ____________________
4. Rounding the corner of _________ and ___________
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Contemporary Lit. Imitation Assignment
Consider Mary Oliver's poem When Death Comes and her Wild Geese poem. (Both good examples of her work.) Then look at Matthew Dickman's poem:
Grief
When grief comes to you as a purple gorilla
you must count yourself lucky.
You must offer her what’s left
of your dinner, the book you were trying to finish
you must put aside,
and make her a place to sit at the foot of your bed,
her eyes moving from the clock
to the television and back again.
I am not afraid. She has been here before
and now I can recognize her gait
as she approaches the house.
Some nights, when I know she’s coming,
I unlock the door, lie down on my back,
and count her steps
from the street to the porch.
Tonight she brings a pencil and a ream of paper,
tells me to write down
everyone I have ever known,
and we separate them between the living and the dead
so she can pick each name at random.
I play her favorite Willie Nelson album
because she misses Texas
but I don’t ask why.
She hums a little,
the way my brother does when he gardens.
We sit for an hour
while she tells me how unreasonable I’ve been,
crying in the checkout line,
refusing to eat, refusing to shower,
all the smoking and all the drinking.
Eventually she puts one of her heavy
purple arms around me, leans
her head against mine,
and all of a sudden things are feeling romantic.
So I tell her,
things are feeling romantic.
She pulls another name, this time
from the dead,
and turns to me in that way that parents do
so you feel embarrassed or ashamed of something.
Romantic? she says,
reading the name out loud, slowly,
so I am aware of each syllable, each vowel
wrapping around the bones like new muscle,
the sound of that person’s body
and how reckless it is,
how careless that his name is in one pile and not the other.
and this poem from Eliot Wilson's book This Island of Dogs.
Swans: Against Mary Oliver
Did you, too, see it, falling through moon-hung mists to the black mirror lake?
Did you see it in the silver morning, drifting down, swinging into the wind,
a bough of magnolias, a bustle of satin white spun from the moon,
a votive whiteness, testing the air, trumpeting the dawn with its ebony beak?
Did you hear it, clarion clear, its feet and wings
making a cross of cascade as it lands
by your pallid decoys
as you slide back the pit cover?
And did you hear the guns of your buddies pounding
around you as you pull up on the closest swan, a young gander, and fire?
And did you see it crumple like a blasted pillow?
And did you see it, wounded, weakly try to escape
the dogs? And have you reloaded?
Grief
When grief comes to you as a purple gorilla
you must count yourself lucky.
You must offer her what’s left
of your dinner, the book you were trying to finish
you must put aside,
and make her a place to sit at the foot of your bed,
her eyes moving from the clock
to the television and back again.
I am not afraid. She has been here before
and now I can recognize her gait
as she approaches the house.
Some nights, when I know she’s coming,
I unlock the door, lie down on my back,
and count her steps
from the street to the porch.
Tonight she brings a pencil and a ream of paper,
tells me to write down
everyone I have ever known,
and we separate them between the living and the dead
so she can pick each name at random.
I play her favorite Willie Nelson album
because she misses Texas
but I don’t ask why.
She hums a little,
the way my brother does when he gardens.
We sit for an hour
while she tells me how unreasonable I’ve been,
crying in the checkout line,
refusing to eat, refusing to shower,
all the smoking and all the drinking.
Eventually she puts one of her heavy
purple arms around me, leans
her head against mine,
and all of a sudden things are feeling romantic.
So I tell her,
things are feeling romantic.
She pulls another name, this time
from the dead,
and turns to me in that way that parents do
so you feel embarrassed or ashamed of something.
Romantic? she says,
reading the name out loud, slowly,
so I am aware of each syllable, each vowel
wrapping around the bones like new muscle,
the sound of that person’s body
and how reckless it is,
how careless that his name is in one pile and not the other.
and this poem from Eliot Wilson's book This Island of Dogs.
Swans: Against Mary Oliver
Did you, too, see it, falling through moon-hung mists to the black mirror lake?
Did you see it in the silver morning, drifting down, swinging into the wind,
a bough of magnolias, a bustle of satin white spun from the moon,
a votive whiteness, testing the air, trumpeting the dawn with its ebony beak?
Did you hear it, clarion clear, its feet and wings
making a cross of cascade as it lands
by your pallid decoys
as you slide back the pit cover?
And did you hear the guns of your buddies pounding
around you as you pull up on the closest swan, a young gander, and fire?
And did you see it crumple like a blasted pillow?
And did you see it, wounded, weakly try to escape
the dogs? And have you reloaded?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Quixotichttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quixotic: Fiction Workshops One & All
Gang,
As we are wrapping up Round Two, your assignment for our next in-class writings is to bring in a word that you'd like for us to master. I am looking for a good vocabulary word, something with nice sounds, whose origin and use we might become more familiar.
Bring your word in for next class and we'll make a big list as a group. The other parts of the assignment will be included at that time.
For now, I'd like for you to read: In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried by Amy Hempel.
Consider for our discussion, what the title has to do with the story, and how and why the random, digressive facts work through the story. Be able to discuss Hempel's techniques and how they work for or against the notion that large topics, such as death, are difficult in the realm of short fiction.
As we are wrapping up Round Two, your assignment for our next in-class writings is to bring in a word that you'd like for us to master. I am looking for a good vocabulary word, something with nice sounds, whose origin and use we might become more familiar.
Bring your word in for next class and we'll make a big list as a group. The other parts of the assignment will be included at that time.
For now, I'd like for you to read: In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried by Amy Hempel.
Consider for our discussion, what the title has to do with the story, and how and why the random, digressive facts work through the story. Be able to discuss Hempel's techniques and how they work for or against the notion that large topics, such as death, are difficult in the realm of short fiction.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Some Words on Creative Non Fiction
http://pansypoetics.blogspot.com/
I thought that both the workshops and lit. students might enjoy this post by a poet and creative non-fiction author about what CNF is. I plan to teach a class at some point and know that Akhim often offers one, as well. This just offers another view at what people talk about when they talk about creative non-fiction.
See you soon my zombie assassins, fans-of-gruesome-eyeball stories and soon-to-be cupcakers. Fight this grey day! Fight this grey day!
I thought that both the workshops and lit. students might enjoy this post by a poet and creative non-fiction author about what CNF is. I plan to teach a class at some point and know that Akhim often offers one, as well. This just offers another view at what people talk about when they talk about creative non-fiction.
See you soon my zombie assassins, fans-of-gruesome-eyeball stories and soon-to-be cupcakers. Fight this grey day! Fight this grey day!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
"No Ideas But in Things" WCW
"The natural object is always the adequate symbol." Ezra Pound
Key concepts of Modernism. Also, note the possibilities for imitation in poems such as Patterson. (Getting at a place through collage, etc.)
Key concepts of Modernism. Also, note the possibilities for imitation in poems such as Patterson. (Getting at a place through collage, etc.)
Contemporary Lit.
T 11/03 William Carlos Williams Film and/or Discussion. Be ready to do either/both.
Homework: Read Marianne Moore's bio. and all poems here:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/96 (poems in links to the right).
H 11/05 Williams & Moore discussion.
Homework: (Hefty reading, plan for it and be prepared. A quiz is always possible.)
Bio and all Dickinson poems. (Most are short, all read through very fluidly.)
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155
Robert Frost: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192
Plus the poems: Design, Stopping By Woods, The Road Not Taken, After Apple-Picking, For Once, Then Something.
T 11/10 Discussion Frost & Dickinson.
H 11/12 Discussion continues.
Homework: Write an imitation of one of the poems or poets that we've read (Pound, Williams, Stevens, Eliot, Moore, Frost, Dickinson etc.) Bring in enough copies for everyone in class on Tuesday and we'll "workshop" the poems. Make sure your copies are typed-up, cleanly edited and revised. Some examples of how one goes about imitating will be discussed in class. Consider the parody.
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem191.html
Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15625
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16424
Note to the worriers: This assignment is meant to be a fun way to get numbers in the gradebook. It will not be graded as if it were a creative writing class, so be original, and have fun with it. I'll give more ideas and examples in class and we'll just have a good time with our final pre-Thanksgiving written assignment.
T 11/17 Handing out of poems to everyone and workshopping.
HOmework: Workshop notes for poems distributed. Reading: Beat Poet,
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5646
Alan Ginsberg. (yes, I know that we've studied him during presentations but I'd like for you to see the text and to review.)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ginsberg_a.htmlAmerica: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/america.html
Howl: https://notes.utk.edu/bio/greenberg.nsf/0/6f7dd8b9270db5c585256d0d001e0a93?OpenDocument
H 11/19 Likely a continuation of workshop and/or The Beat Movement.
T 11/24 Catching up what remains. Homework:
Read a brief overview of the New York School: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5668
Kenneth Koch (brief bio) and this poem:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15592
Frank O'Hara (bio on the left and these three short poems)
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20394
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20392
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20422
and Confessionalists. Reading:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/14 (all poems and the bio.) Also, these:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/music-swims-back-to-me/
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/32652-Anne-Sexton-Ringing-the-Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfvS_fgbuDI
Sylvia Plath: TBA (keep checking for these readings)
Robert Lowell: TBA
and final assignment: A response to the poets we have read subsequent to the Modernists. Consider the Beats, the Confessionalists or an author of your choosing, as long as you discuss it with me prior to beginning. Your response will be ekphrastic in the broadest sense. You might write a poem, story, essay or song in response to a writer or entire movement. You might respond in other art: illustration, painting, animation, sculpture. In addition to the assignment, I want to see a grammatically-polished, edited and typed "artist statement" for your piece, 250 word minimum. If your response is a written piece (say a series of poems based on Ginsberg or a story written with Robert Lowell in mind,) you will still discuss how you employed some of the same conventions as the piece that inspired. You can also discuss what you left-out or opposed in your piece. We can discuss all of this further in class. Feel free to ask any questions you have about the assignment. (Not due until 12/08)
H 11/26 Happy Thanksgiving!
T 12/01 Confessionalists
H 12/03 Continued
T 12/08 Final Assignments Due for Presentations.
H 12/10 Cupcakes and final words
Fall Semester Ends
Homework: Read Marianne Moore's bio. and all poems here:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/96 (poems in links to the right).
H 11/05 Williams & Moore discussion.
Homework: (Hefty reading, plan for it and be prepared. A quiz is always possible.)
Bio and all Dickinson poems. (Most are short, all read through very fluidly.)
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155
Robert Frost: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192
Plus the poems: Design, Stopping By Woods, The Road Not Taken, After Apple-Picking, For Once, Then Something.
T 11/10 Discussion Frost & Dickinson.
H 11/12 Discussion continues.
Homework: Write an imitation of one of the poems or poets that we've read (Pound, Williams, Stevens, Eliot, Moore, Frost, Dickinson etc.) Bring in enough copies for everyone in class on Tuesday and we'll "workshop" the poems. Make sure your copies are typed-up, cleanly edited and revised. Some examples of how one goes about imitating will be discussed in class. Consider the parody.
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem191.html
Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15625
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16424
Note to the worriers: This assignment is meant to be a fun way to get numbers in the gradebook. It will not be graded as if it were a creative writing class, so be original, and have fun with it. I'll give more ideas and examples in class and we'll just have a good time with our final pre-Thanksgiving written assignment.
T 11/17 Handing out of poems to everyone and workshopping.
HOmework: Workshop notes for poems distributed. Reading: Beat Poet,
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5646
Alan Ginsberg. (yes, I know that we've studied him during presentations but I'd like for you to see the text and to review.)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/ginsberg_a.htmlAmerica: http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/america.html
Howl: https://notes.utk.edu/bio/greenberg.nsf/0/6f7dd8b9270db5c585256d0d001e0a93?OpenDocument
H 11/19 Likely a continuation of workshop and/or The Beat Movement.
T 11/24 Catching up what remains. Homework:
Read a brief overview of the New York School: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5668
Kenneth Koch (brief bio) and this poem:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15592
Frank O'Hara (bio on the left and these three short poems)
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20394
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20392
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20422
and Confessionalists. Reading:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/14 (all poems and the bio.) Also, these:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/music-swims-back-to-me/
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/32652-Anne-Sexton-Ringing-the-Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfvS_fgbuDI
Sylvia Plath: TBA (keep checking for these readings)
Robert Lowell: TBA
and final assignment: A response to the poets we have read subsequent to the Modernists. Consider the Beats, the Confessionalists or an author of your choosing, as long as you discuss it with me prior to beginning. Your response will be ekphrastic in the broadest sense. You might write a poem, story, essay or song in response to a writer or entire movement. You might respond in other art: illustration, painting, animation, sculpture. In addition to the assignment, I want to see a grammatically-polished, edited and typed "artist statement" for your piece, 250 word minimum. If your response is a written piece (say a series of poems based on Ginsberg or a story written with Robert Lowell in mind,) you will still discuss how you employed some of the same conventions as the piece that inspired. You can also discuss what you left-out or opposed in your piece. We can discuss all of this further in class. Feel free to ask any questions you have about the assignment. (Not due until 12/08)
H 11/26 Happy Thanksgiving!
T 12/01 Confessionalists
H 12/03 Continued
T 12/08 Final Assignments Due for Presentations.
H 12/10 Cupcakes and final words
Fall Semester Ends
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