POETRY, WEEK 3, WINTER '04, DUE 1/22

Apropos of last week's Revision Aissgnment, please keep in mind that you will want to include a poem in week 5 that ties in with your Integrative Project on the Flow of Consciousness. As usual with me, you can interpret the "ties in" idea strictly or loosely; your poem can be the centerpiece of your project, (which would be an interesting twist) or it can be one of the 3 or 4 supporting legs, or it can be a riff on whatever idea(s) you do choose to illustrate or embody the Flow of Consciousness. Stylistically, anything goes.

Insofar as you've now had time to wrestle with the problem of describing sensation, you might, if you want, want to meditate on how such description relates to Consciousness Flow. In situations where vivid or intense stimuli are absent, your mind often throws up a string of diversions: daydreams about what you should have for dinner, thoughts about how cold your feet are, questions about why you've chosen to live in this godforsaken place, an itch on your butt, a phone conversation with your boyfriend/girlfriend last night, and a critique of yourself for being so hopelessly scatterbrained. All within the first 30 seconds. These "tricks" of mind are a kind of sensation themselves, (what does it feel like to have a head like a beehive?) but what if you could seperate from those insistent thoughts altogether AND be awake. What would it feel like to sit/lie/walk there without "latching onto" thoughts. watching them pass like clouds in the sky, not judging; what would THAT feel like? And what is it about us that won't allow no-thought? Is it threatening in some way? (I think it is to me.)

I might add, since we're playing with words here, that to do something on the Flow of Consciousness, you need to construct some working definition of Flow and Consciousness. What is consciousness for you? Does it include sleep? Daydreaming? Sleep when you're not dreaming? The Finding Flow text is providing some interesting suppositions about Flow demanding a sharpening of focus, clear feedback, and response to challenges that engages skills. Most of us have experienced being "in the zone," doing something that allowed us to apply ourselves to a problem in a way that allowed us to forget about ourselves. If you work backwards from that feeling, backwards from sharply focused consciousness, where do you end up? What's the polar opposite of that feeling of flow, and how does it fit in to your definition of consciousness?

The assignment for this week is relatively simple: write a poem about a personal experience of flow. If you've never had one, make one up. If you've had more than one, sort through and pick one that would make a good poem; remember to use specific details to ground the poem and establish believability; use images and "new" language to suggest the emotional content, and minimize declarative "I felt..." sentences. Sensations? Paint a picture with words. Start on it early so that you can utilize your newfound revision skills to sharpen it over the course of the week.

On the reverse, I'll include a poem that I think embodies a flow experience. Note that the materials that I mentioned last week are now on reserve in the Library; these include essays on Poetry and a group of individual collections from Contemporary American Poets I like. If you're interested, check them (metaphorically) out.