Workshop·Live, one to one·Two classes · two hours
The idea that holds
The driving idea has two parts: what the text wants to say, and the weather that pushes it. The first sentence is the window frame, not the landscape. Across two classes that sentence is named and tested on a text of yours. Nothing is corrected while you are still looking.
The premise is a brick. Often its best fate is to disappear.
Ground
Nothing is invented. It is drawn from what is already being said, or a probe is sent there. If the first sentence is treated as the destination, the poem stays looking at the wood. The landscape is the truth of the feeling. Often the premise has to disappear for that to appear.
Aim
- Separate improvising, composing, and revising, and do not correct while you are still looking.
- Name the idea in two parts: direction and impulse.
- Rewrite so the opening line is no longer the premise.
It trains
Name the sentence that organizes the poem, and let the premise go.
Contents
1Do not correct while you are looking
1.1Improvise
You look for the sentence. The line is not judged yet. If you correct here, the idea does not arrive.
1.2Compose
Once direction and impulse are there, they are put on a path.
1.3Revise
Afterwards. Revision tunes what has already appeared. It does not go looking for it.
2The premise is not the landscape
2.1A window frame
The first sentence crops the view. The work is to see what is on the other side, not to stay with the wood.
2.2What is let go
It is a brick, a starting point. You keep what serves and let the rest go.
2.3Disappear
Often it has to stop being written so the feeling can appear.
3Direction and impulse
3.1What it means
Direction: where the text is going. Not the subject that was announced.
3.2What pushes it
Impulse: the weather that moves it. Without that, the idea is a label.
3.3One rewrite
The opening line is no longer in charge. The text shows what can be seen. It does not explain it.
Questions
Do I need to arrive with a poem?
A short draft is enough. If you do not have one, one sentence of yours is used.
What do I need to know first?
No theory. It helps to know that the first line is not the destination.
Is it a video?
No. It is live, one to one. The time is arranged by email.
What if I don't think of myself as a poet?
You don't have to. The work is a text of yours. A short draft is enough. If there is no poem, one sentence is enough.
It is live, one to one, on Zoom. The time is arranged by email.
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