December 26, 2018

Writing at the Edge: Contemplative Research


Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, John Cage, and Diane di Prima founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Colorado. Over 40 years later, this MFA program continues to provide writers with a deep exploration of their craft.  "Contemplative research" is one of their by-words. The Jack Kerouac Webstore has offered broadsides, chapbooks, and texts by Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Laurie Anderson, Anselm Hollo, Harryette Mullen, and many others. 

Recently, I'd sent ten poems in response to a call for submissions, "Writing at the Edge,"  by a group of writers called the Precipice Collective which has a connection through a panel presentation, "Precipice: The Edge as a Practice for Scaling Place," which explored the connections between the body of the writer and the body of writing. It was a pleasure to find out my work (all ten poems!) had been accepted for inclusion.  

The editors of this anthology describe this recently published book as "an ecopoetics reader and somatic workbook using critical essays, creative texts, and somatic writing labs..."  This collection about experimental writing and performance offers essays about craft and performance. It has writer's prompts that use the creative work to initiate a somatic exercise and generate new work.  It is for writers and teachers. For more information about somatic labs, visit http://www.precipice-collective.org/writing-at-the-edge/

 I look forward to using some of these engaging ideas in workshops and writing classes. The writings connect to ecosystems and the body.

"We don't want this anthology collecting dust on the shelf--we want its spine cracked, its pages dogeared, its margins loved, and its weight used to press leaves, flowers, herbs, and pine needles." 

The book is for sale from the Precipice Collective for $18 at  http://www.precipice-collective.org/bookstore/

The Precipice: Writing at the Edge Launch Party will be held on Saturday, March 2nd at 7:00 PM at COUNTERPATH in Denver, Colorado. You can find Precipice Collective on Twittter:https://twitter.com/precipicecollec  And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/precipicecollective/ .