Transforming Self Through Poetry

1. Transforming Self Through Poetry Ms. Cheby March 2012

2. Alienation

3. Alienation • a state of depersonalization or loss of identity in which the self seems unreal, thought to be caused by difficulties in relating to society and the resulting prolonged inhibition of emotion.

4. Transformation

5. Transformation • a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance

6. Transformational Experience • a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance • an experience that engages the SENSES, gets one PERSONally involved, creates MEMORIES, and makes a LASTING impact

7. Poetry

8. Poetry • Engages senses

9. Poetry • Engages senses • Look at everyday experiences anew

10. Poetry • Engages senses • Look at everyday experiences anew • Personalizes (and fictionalizes) events, subjects, ideas, emotions to connect reader

11. Poetry • Engages senses • Look at everyday experiences anew • Personalizes (and fictionalizes) events, subjects, ideas, emotions to connect reader • Leaves reader and writer different than before the poem

12. Poetry = Transformative Act

13. Are you ready to be a transformer?

14. Are you ready to be a transformer? Trust the process

15. The Aspen Tree by Paul Celan Aspen tree, your leaves glance white into the dark. My mother’s hair was never white. Dandelion, so green is the Ukraine. My yellow-haired mother did not come home. Rain cloud, above the well, do you hover? My quiet mother weeps for everyone. Round star, you wind the golden loop. My mother’s heart was ripped by lead. Oaken door, who lifted you off your hinges? My gentle mother cannot return.

16. Exercise 1: Trust the process steps 1 and 2: • Step 1: Write two statements directly addressing something in nature and number them #1 and #2. i.e. • 1. Air, speak softly because I can’t hear you. • 2. Thank you, aloe, for cooling sun’s burns. • Step 2: Write two statements directly addressing an object and number them #3 and #4. • 3. Clock! Stop taunting me with threats of sunrise. • 4. Sidewalk, I don’t want to follow you anymore.

17. Exercise 1: Trust the process step 3: • Step 3: Write 4 statements about someone in your family (facts, or pretend facts). Number them #1 -#4 • 1. My father joined the army to get to the U.S. • 2. My father was a tool and dye maker • 3. My father died of colon cancer • 4. My father cried and sang folk songs when he drank too much.

18. Exercise 1: Trust the process step 4: • Pair you numbered sentences to make couplets that imitate Celan’s poem

19. Exercise 1: Trust the process step 4: Air, speak softly because I can’t hear you. My father joined the army to get to the U.S. Thank you, aloe, for cooling sun’s burns. My father was a tool and dye maker. Clock! Stop taunting me with threats of sunrise. My father died of colon cancer. Sidewalk, I don’t want to follow you anymore. My father cried and sang folk songs when he drank too much.

20. Exercise 2: The Self as Other • Answer 5 of the 10 autobiographical prompts on a pieces of paper (do not number the questions). • Pass papers to the right. From each person, keep one and pass the rest on. Continue until you have more papers to pass. You should have 5 papers from other people in your group. • Answer all 5 of the nature prompts. • On a separate paper answer five nature prompts (bringing in sensory images) • Pair 5 autobiographical fact strips with 5 nature images to create a poem that is made of 5 couplets (two line stanzas). It should imitate Celan’s poem.

21. Transform, Challenge, Reflect • Challenge 1: Rewrite each line using more vivid nouns/verbs. • Challenge 2: Rewrite each line so it has 10 syllables. • Challenge 3: Incorporate the words (or a variant of the words) transformation, alienation, or cathedral in your poem. • Reflection: Share you poems in your group: How do the images transform the experiences and vice versa? How was your experience transformed by writing or by another writer?

22. Sample Poem of Paired Nature /Autobiogrpahical prompts. Spider plant, transform my air so I can breathe. On 9/11 the wall of smoke blocked the view of the fallen towers. Squirrel, does praying bring you an abundance of acorns? As Nina Ricci floated by the winter coats in Macy’s I turned to seek my mother. Sun, shine on what I need to see behind the cloud’s shadow. I emerged at 3:13 a.m. Roots, give me strength to grow until I reach the sky. The rain dances a lullaby on the window to lull me to sleep. Iron pot, sustain me and simmer me until I am done. The velveteen rabbit was worn by love.