SWANDER 556: IMAGINATIVE WRITING (POETRY)

OFFICE: L.A. 105
PHONE: 294-3373
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment
E-MAIL: mswander@iastate.edu

Writing from Your Roots:

Are you a city or country mouse? Do you identify with a certain landscape or geographical location, a particular ethnicity, or form of spirituality? Whether city or urban dwellers, whether Easterners or Midwesterners, whether African-Americans or Latino/as, whether Buddhists or Muslims, we all write out of our own traditions shaped by our individual backgrounds. We’ll explore poets who write from their roots, including such diverse folks as Julia Alvarez, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Wendell Berry, William Stafford, Rumi and members of the Navajo oral tradition. We’ll examine their voices, how they make strong thematic and political statements, and the ways in which they handle their own personal material. We’ll notice their use of poetic devices and form.

Each student will gather together an anthology of poems from his or her own chosen tradition, exploring the strengths and limitations of the writers with this point of view. Students will write a collection of poems in response to their traditions, finding grounding in familiarity but at the same time pushing to expand their consciousness of “the other.” Students will be expected to write a poem a week, and make a final oral presentation of their work, becoming actively engaged in a supportive workshop situation. Students should be familiar with basic poetic terminology or have studied a text like Robert Wallace and Michelle Boisseau’s Writing Poems before the beginning of the class.

TEXTS

Floricanto Si: A Collection of Latina Poetry, edited by Bryce Milligan, Mary Guerrero, and Angela de Hoyos

Handspan of Red Earth: An Anthology of American Farm Poems, edited by Catherine Lewallen Marconi

The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, edited by Stephen Mitchell

1. Class format:

We’ll be reading and writing in response to our literary discoveries. Please staple two rough drafts to the finished draft of your poem. Your poems will be typed and you will be responsible for copying them and handing them in on time. You will also be responsible for reading and critiquing the worksheets of your fellow classmates.

We will be critiquing each other’s work and I will pair you with an advocate who will be responsible for beginning the discussion of each poem. The advocate should begin with the positive aspects of the poem before moving on to making suggestions for improvement.
I think of workshops as a place of process. Attempt to finish and polish your poem to the best of your ability, then bring it to class, get feedback, and revise.

2. Class assignments:

a. You will write approximately one poem a week, some as exercises, some of your own inspiration and design. All exercises and poems should include:
- Author’s name,
- the date the assignment is due,
- and the letter of the exercise.

b. You will participate in roundtable discussions about the assigned collections of poetry.
c. You will also collect an anthology of ten poems from different poets from your chosen tradition, including a 1-2-page introduction examining the patterns in this type of poetry.
d. You will gather together a collection of 3-4 of your best poems for a final portfolio. These poems should be written from your tradition. You will make a class presentation from these poems.

3. Grades:

a. Exercises will be graded on a pass/fail basis, as will contributions to the roundtable discussions. I expect you to do the exercises and they will be factored into your final grade. But the main grade for the course will be based on your final project: You will receive a letter grade for:
- Your anthology
- Your presentation
- Your final project.

These three grades will be averaged together, then raised or lowered according to the success of your exercises and roundtable discussions.

You will receive a grade on your final project the last week of class. Since you will have already workshopped the project several times, your final grade will be your final grade and I will not accept any more revisions.

We meet only once a week, so please commit to strict attendance and punctuality.

Please do not wear perfume or scents to class or to my office. Thank you for your help.

Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. Please contact the Disability Resource Office at 515-294-6624 in room 1076, Student Services Building, to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS:

You will work with a group and become responsible for selecting a section or group of poems from the assigned text. You will have around 5-7 minutes to discuss your specific piece(s) and how it/they relate(s) to the topic at hand. You won’t be able to talk about all that your poems are achieving, so stay focused on the topic but give us enough detail and insight in your reading to generate discussion.

As moderator, I will then ask general questions designed to elicit a flow of conversation among members of the class. We can agree or differ in opinions and ask further questions of each other.

PRESENTATIONS:

You will present an evening of insight into your own final portfolio of poems. This presentation is neither the dull old book report from sixth grade nor the boring MLA presentation from adulthood. Instead, engage us, draw us into the world of your poetry, allow us to probe its ideas to its very core.

Your presentations should be twenty minutes in length and include the following elements:

1. Some sensitizing experience for the whole class that puts us in the mood, helps us better understand the background, setting, the characters, or the cultural context of the work. For example, if you are writing from the Latino/a tradition, you might bring in a map of the Spanish speaking countries of the world, some folk music from that culture, or some food from that part of the world.

2. Audience involvement in the presentation. You may use members of your group to help you dramatize the poems, or do an exercise with the whole class that helps to conceptualize your work. For example, if you are writing from the position of the disabled, you might blindfold class members, give them a cane, and ask them to try to get around the classroom, simulating for a very short time, some of the obstacles involved in the differently challenged world.

3. A reading of a selection of the poems. You will read the poems in a clean, strong voice, heard throughout the room. You may include a short bit of patter to frame the poems or set up their context.

4. The use of at least one audio-visual device including CD players, tape players, VCR’s, over-head projectors, the blackboard, or computers and slide projectors. You might show a short clip from a documentary that illustrates the setting of your poems, or a short interview from a poet who has influenced your work. Please let me know your audiovisual needs a week in advance.

5. Three questions for discussion from the other members of the class. These questions should cover:

a. The topic or tradition, characters, culture.
b. Poetic techniques or form.
c. Influences or suggestions for further reading.

EXERCISES:

A. Read The Enlightened Heart edited by Stephen Mitchell and notice how most of the poets convey their spiritual ideas and emotions through the lyric. Examine the use of “special” compressed language—alliteration, assonance, internal and end rhyme. Look at the ways in which the poets use metaphor and imagery, repetition and litany. And other figures of speech. Ask yourself how form supports content. Is this poet writing a sonnet? A haiku? A poem in quatrains? Does it matter? What rhythms are integral parts of this form? What strengths/weaknesses might be involved in the translation of this poem?

Now write a lyric poem of your own. You may select any subject matter but go after material that is important to you, that shakes you up, or is a passion. Notice the ways you match form and content. Work through three drafts. Read the poem out loud to yourself and others. Does it sound musical? Is it pleasant to the eyes/ears/ lips? Does it convey a profound emotional or intellectual experience?

B. Read The Handspan of the Red Earth edited by Catherine Lewallen Marconi and notice how most of these poems are written in the narrative mode. How do these poets create a setting? How do they sketch in characters? Is there a conflict in the poems? Dramatic action? A resolution? Most of these poems are concrete, physical and filled with specific details. Notice how these details arise from all five senses, how they are woven into the texture and fabric of the sentences and stanzas themselves. Why are these pieces poems and not short stories? What poetic devices are employed?

Write a narrative poem that tells a story and draws upon interesting, involving characters and events. The story may be real or completely fictionalized. Fill up your poem with concrete, physical details and shoot for some real drama. Re-read your final draft and ask yourself: Can a reader follow this story? Have I included enough of the situation and setting to fulfill the plot? What poetic devices help propel the poem down the page?

C. Read Foricanto Si! edited by Bryce Milligan, Mary Guerrero Milligan, and Angela de Hoyos. Most of these poems are centered on the strong voice of the persona. Their power is based upon techniques of creating irony, of creating suspense, and of addressing political or historical issues. Determine the reliability of the narrators. Note the diction and syntax of the sentences used to create these personas. What dramas are created in the deliveries?

Now write a persona poem or dramatic monologue. Pick a voice that is different from your own. But pick a voice that you can identify with, that you have compassion for. What is this character’s strength? What is this character’s fatal flaw? What information is delivered between the lines? What is the subtext? How are determining the characters voice rhythms? Use of slang? Diction and syntax?

SCHEDULE:

August 25, 2003:
Orientation.
Group and advocate assignments.
Discussion of the techniques of the lyric poem.

September 8:
Roundtable discussion of The Enlightened Heart.
Due: Exercise A.
Discussion of the techniques of the narrative poem.

September 15:
Annie Proulx reading and interview.

September 22:
Roundtable discussion of Handspan of the Red Earth.
Workshop Exercise A.
Due: Exercise B
Discussion of the techniques of the dramatic poem.

September 29:
Roundtable discussion of Floricanto Si!
Workshop Exercise B
Due: Exercise C

October 6:
Workshop Exercise C
Due: Free Choice Poem #1

October 13:
Workshop Free Choice Poem #1
Due: Anthology of Poetry
Due: Free Choice Poem #2

December 8:
Presentations of Portfolios.