We will move previous meetings to this space as we report on new meetings and other developments.
First Creative Forces Gathering January 19, 2013 Who: Susan Davis, HollyAnne Giffin, Barbara Porter, Jan Ott Where: Susan's kitchen and back yard
Susan's Discussion Topics:
How can we be mindfully creative?
Susan: Attempting to journal 15 minutes a day to develop a disciplined approach to creativity has not worked for me. As soon as school started, I lapsed due my "curse of practicality." Advice?
5-minute reflection or creative exercise is do-able, not so daunting -- Jan
"We need to find comfort with discomfort or uncertainty." -- HollyAnne
"I've learned to let [worrying about being creative] go. I trust that something is going to happen." -- Barbara
How can we save and share our explorations of creativity (possibly expanding to an online format)?
We do feel the value of face-to-face meeting (and knoshing), enjoy the pressure and pleasure of a live audience, but also appreciate that sharing can happen in others ways.
Expand this wiki and invite new members to participate -- our face-to-face gatherings may inspire others; online sharing will inspire us in future; interesting possibilities for give and take.
Share exercises and discussion topics with others online, have them respond and meet online to discuss (chat, webinar, google hangouts)
Invite new friends to join us.
Creative Exercise: Self-Portrait in Nouns and Verbs
Brainstorm with your creative friends to come up with one-syllable words that can be either nouns or verbs and add to the original list my husband and I generated when traveling from east Tennessee, up the mountainous spine of Virginia, and home to Baltimore. The idea is to focus on simple language as a basis for writing powerful poems. Then use 10 words from the combined list to write a self-portrait poem. (In retrospect, it might be useful to talk a bit about self-portraits first. Barbara shared her experience with a group journaling project that helped start us off.) We set a timer for 15 minutes, then added 5 minutes. We all shared our poems (see Susan's and Jan's below). Hint: It helps to take a minute at the beginning to circle the first 10 or so words that claim your attention.
Jan's Poem:
I live my life in grace
or that's the intent.
More to the point, I
scratch at my divinity,
dancing with my dog
as I contemplate my
existence.
I walk in beams of light,
grateful for the sun that brings life to all,
looking at the future
which looms in
front of me,
the work driving me away
from my center and I cave
until I take a stand to
reclaim my will.
Susan's poem:
Grace eludes me,
the boggy breath of pure
calm, the hum of quiet
energy, the beam
of light that will rise like a dove
through the spine. Instead, I am
dogged by a blind snake
that charms the hurt stew
of lost selves
into my brain.
Other creative exercises to consider:
"Book Spine" poems. I refer to the ever-wonderful Brainpickings for further details on these delightfully physical incarnations of poetry and literature. - H
Odes in the style of Neruda's Elemental Odes (see "Ode to a Red Solo Cup" below)
Field trips -- museums, walking around with cameras, etc.
Creative Ideas Specifically for School: Poem in Your Pocket Day and spin-off of sidewalk poems (Jan's idea)
Word, Word, Words -- Susan's "Self-Portrait in Nouns and Verbs" as assigned to students
Stuff We Shared:
Toby Keith's "Ode to a Red Solo Cup" (Barbara) -- just google it for the YouTube video (babes and beer somehow not the right thing for our wiki, perhaps) and all the spin-offs
Yamodo exercise (HollyAnne) -- apparently there is a commercial version, but this is not really needed. Perhaps HollyAnne can describe the rules on her page. Here is the Yamodo website. - H
Colored Pencil exercise (Barbara) -- very interesting creative exercise involving writing in colored pencils and free associating about the color used.
Photography site for digital storytelling : poetryforpeople.net (HollyAnne)
Jonah Lehrer's Imagine (Susan) One Word -- one word writing prompts (Susan) Exquisite Corpse (Susan) -- linked drawing exercise used by the Surrealists. Found Magazine -- found photos, notes, grocery lists, etc. Progoff Intensive Journal Program (Jan) -- add more about this? (Silly side note: I totally thought she said "pro-golf journaling." Interesting, perhaps, but certainly different. - H)
Noah Scalin's Unstuck (HollyAnne)
Possible Group Project: Guerilla Blessings
Inspired by guerilla knitting (also known as yarn bombing), Susan's encounter with Yoko Ono's "Peace Tree" at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice (but apparently they are all over), Barbara's fascination with found art, Jan's description of her friend's May Day project (see Jan's page) and HollyAnne's project with students that involved leaving "blessings" around her school for others to notice (idea via Operation Beautiful). We are thinking of launching a project of leaving positive messages, blessings, around Houston (or other places?) for others to discover. We want to make the blessings, leave them in public places, and try to document some of the discoveries. Possible variation: Ribbon bombs? Gorilla in logo?
First Creative Forces Gathering
January 19, 2013
Who: Susan Davis, HollyAnne Giffin, Barbara Porter, Jan Ott
Where: Susan's kitchen and back yard
Susan's Discussion Topics:
- How can we be mindfully creative?
Susan: Attempting to journal 15 minutes a day to develop a disciplined approach to creativity has not worked for me. As soon as school started, I lapsed due my "curse of practicality." Advice?5-minute reflection or creative exercise is do-able, not so daunting -- Jan
"We need to find comfort with discomfort or uncertainty." -- HollyAnne
"I've learned to let [worrying about being creative] go. I trust that something is going to happen." -- Barbara
- How can we save and share our explorations of creativity (possibly expanding to an online format)?
We do feel the value of face-to-face meeting (and knoshing), enjoy the pressure and pleasure of a live audience, but also appreciate that sharing can happen in others ways.Expand this wiki and invite new members to participate -- our face-to-face gatherings may inspire others; online sharing will inspire us in future; interesting possibilities for give and take.
Share exercises and discussion topics with others online, have them respond and meet online to discuss (chat, webinar, google hangouts)
Invite new friends to join us.
Creative Exercise: Self-Portrait in Nouns and Verbs
Brainstorm with your creative friends to come up with one-syllable words that can be either nouns or verbs and add to the original list my husband and I generated when traveling from east Tennessee, up the mountainous spine of Virginia, and home to Baltimore. The idea is to focus on simple language as a basis for writing powerful poems. Then use 10 words from the combined list to write a self-portrait poem. (In retrospect, it might be useful to talk a bit about self-portraits first. Barbara shared her experience with a group journaling project that helped start us off.) We set a timer for 15 minutes, then added 5 minutes. We all shared our poems (see Susan's and Jan's below). Hint: It helps to take a minute at the beginning to circle the first 10 or so words that claim your attention.
Original Word List:
scratch, loom, stay, crane, rake, trip, cave, bark, will, coast, rose, gum, stock, brook, skate, catch, bow, gloss, shade, charm, pine, court, purse, beam, rock, twine, bog, scold, track, fool, sent, rank, stew, stage, slip, brace, net, face, blind, mint
We added these words:
line, dive, hum, dove, toast, dance, hurt, run, skip, scarf, snake, grace, brain, walk, sex, drive, mold, stand, fold, nail, dog.
Jan's Poem:
I live my life in grace
or that's the intent.
More to the point, I
scratch at my divinity,
dancing with my dog
as I contemplate my
existence.
I walk in beams of light,
grateful for the sun that brings life to all,
looking at the future
which looms in
front of me,
the work driving me away
from my center and I cave
until I take a stand to
reclaim my will.
Susan's poem:
Grace eludes me,
the boggy breath of pure
calm, the hum of quiet
energy, the beam
of light that will rise like a dove
through the spine. Instead, I am
dogged by a blind snake
that charms the hurt stew
of lost selves
into my brain.
Other creative exercises to consider:
"Book Spine" poems. I refer to the ever-wonderful Brainpickings for further details on these delightfully physical incarnations of poetry and literature. - H
Odes in the style of Neruda's Elemental Odes (see "Ode to a Red Solo Cup" below)
Field trips -- museums, walking around with cameras, etc.
Creative Ideas Specifically for School:
Poem in Your Pocket Day and spin-off of sidewalk poems (Jan's idea)
Word, Word, Words -- Susan's "Self-Portrait in Nouns and Verbs" as assigned to students
Stuff We Shared:
Toby Keith's "Ode to a Red Solo Cup" (Barbara) -- just google it for the YouTube video (babes and beer somehow not the right thing for our wiki, perhaps) and all the spin-offs
Yamodo exercise (HollyAnne) -- apparently there is a commercial version, but this is not really needed. Perhaps HollyAnne can describe the rules on her page. Here is the Yamodo website. - H
Colored Pencil exercise (Barbara) -- very interesting creative exercise involving writing in colored pencils and free associating about the color used.
Photography site for digital storytelling : poetryforpeople.net (HollyAnne)
Jonah Lehrer's Imagine (Susan)
One Word -- one word writing prompts (Susan)
Exquisite Corpse (Susan) -- linked drawing exercise used by the Surrealists.
Found Magazine -- found photos, notes, grocery lists, etc.
Progoff Intensive Journal Program (Jan) -- add more about this? (Silly side note: I totally thought she said "pro-golf journaling." Interesting, perhaps, but certainly different. - H)
Noah Scalin's Unstuck (HollyAnne)
Possible Group Project: Guerilla Blessings
Inspired by guerilla knitting (also known as yarn bombing), Susan's encounter with Yoko Ono's "Peace Tree" at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice (but apparently they are all over), Barbara's fascination with found art, Jan's description of her friend's May Day project (see Jan's page) and HollyAnne's project with students that involved leaving "blessings" around her school for others to notice (idea via Operation Beautiful). We are thinking of launching a project of leaving positive messages, blessings, around Houston (or other places?) for others to discover. We want to make the blessings, leave them in public places, and try to document some of the discoveries. Possible variation: Ribbon bombs? Gorilla in logo?