Attached here are instructions for my final project, also shown below. For class, I will be “the poet” for class today.
One person (the poet) assembles nine others, for a total of ten people (the players), arranged around a table.
The poet selects one ten-word sentence, which can be taken from any source (the poet’s imagination, another poem, a clothing catalog, etc.). The poet puts one word from the sentences on ten slips of paper, each. Along with the word, the poet puts two prompts on each slip of the paper. The prompts can be related to the word on the paper or not. The poet distributes the slips to the players in order (the person with the first word of the sentence sits next to the person with the second word, the second next to the person with the third, and so on). The players should not show their paper to the other players, or anyone else.
The player with the first word begins. A player may either respond to one of the prompts or say the word on their sheet. If the player responds to the prompt, they need not explain the prompt (for example, if the prompt is “Tell me the name of your mother” the player may simply say “Deborah” instead of “My mother’s name is Deborah”). If the player says their word, they may not respond to any more prompts. After the first player has made their utterance, the poem moves to the player with the second word. The second player has the same options as the first. Play moves around the circle. When the circle returns to the first player, if the first player has already said their word, they must simply repeat their word. If they have responded to a prompt, they may respond to the same prompt again or respond to the second prompt, so long as they don’t repeat what they have said (for example, if the prompt is “Tell me the name of your mother” and the player has said “Deborah” the player can not say “Deborah” again, but could say “Mrs. Baker”). They may also choose to say their word, after which they can only say their word. Play continues around the circle until the sentence is complete.
This idea began to foment in me after we did the Jackson Mac Low poem in the second week of class. In my fiction, I’ve been considering the idea of poetry that is experiential - that only fully exists in and is changed by the specificity of its participants and its moment. I wanted the poem, while still made up of its participants, to be guided by the writing. In its initial iteration, it was a poem that only would be performed once, for the final class, and be over. I was extremely stressed over this prospect and, for several weeks, I struggled to come up with the perfect ten-word sentence and the perfect questions to ask to make it a worthy bit of writing as well as a “fun exercise.” I realized this week, however, that this struggle was antithetical to the project which isn’t necessarily about me as a writer, but the way in which this poem changes with different participants. By making it both participatory and re-producible, it both takes the pressure off and allows for different iterations. I won’t say what I eventually settled on, to save the surprise for the class. - Ryn
