3 Sessions Starting April 24th

Mondays 6-8pm (bst)

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How can we write about the natural world when nature is burning, melting, wilting? Might the form for new crisis-facing ecopoetries be found in the landscape itself? Can close interactions with a local stream allow us to write through glacier loss, extreme weather, or drought?

 

This course welcomes play and experimentation in relation to natural and non-natural elements of our surrounding landscape – be prepared to get soil under your nails, sodden in rainfall, and covered in tree debris. We will be looking to establish new hybrid poetries by borrowing forms from the world around us, including (but certainly not limited to) fields, woodland, cityscapes, marshland, new-build developments, bus stations, allotments, council estates, gardens, town centres, courtyards, moorland, and beaches. 

 

Rhizomes, Rivulets, and Resonances follows the practice-based methodologies of my 2023 publication Rhizomes (Broken Sleep Books). The three-session course is open to all, from seasoned visual poets, to those looking to break away from traditional verse form, to those exploring the possibilities of poetry for the first time. Whilst the focal point will be poetic writing, practitioners with a penchant for the experimental or ecological from other disciplines are also welcome.  Sign up for all or just the weeks you are most interested in.

April 24th: Borrowing Movements 

Might the meander of the river offer a new form for the poem? Could the growth of subterranean stems and root systems indicate new routes through language or narrative pathways? This week will start out in the open. We will move around the outdoor spaces available to us, paying close attention to the movements of (and interactions between) flora and fauna, water bodies, pathways, litter, the breeze, people, and their companion animals. 

May 29th: Borrowing Textures 

How might the ridges and furrows of bark be represented on the page? What happens when we write directly onto or with foraged materials? How might we create texture using language? This week, we will play with methodologies of collecting and mark-making to establish forms that walk the line between poetry and visual art. 

June 26th: Borrowing Sounds 

Soundscapes, landscapes, and the page. Where might a recording of birdsong, falling branches, or a waste disposal truck lead our writing? Can disruptions and juxtapositions in sound be generative for ecopoetic practice? 

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