Let's Make Beautiful Stuff Together Week 2
Bernadette Mayer & dictionary experiments
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023
In the basement of the main branch of Louisville’s Free Public Library, a dozen or so of us gathered for week two of the poetry month workshop I am running. We spent five minutes free-writing (no filters, no stopping), then practiced Critical Response Process on 3 poems written by members of the group. Critical Response Process is Liz Lerman’s critique practice that keeps the artist in charge of their art in a few ways, such as allowing them space to ask their own questions about the work (rather than remaining silent, which is typical in creative writing workshops) and encouraging responders to ask curious questions rather than jump into revision suggestions.
The Process goes like this
Statements of Meaning: Responders state what was meaningful, evocative, interesting, exciting, striking in the work they have just witnessed.
Artist as Questioner: The artist asks questions about the work. After each question, the responders answer. Responders may express opinions if they are in direct response to the question asked and do not contain suggestions for changes.
Neutral Questions: Responders ask neutral questions about the work. The artist responds. Questions are neutral when they do not have an opinion couched in them. For example, if you are discussing the lighting of a scene, “Why was it so dark?” is not a neutral question. “What ideas guided your choices about lighting?” is.
Opinion Time: Responders state opinions, subject to permission from the artist. The usual form is “I have an opinion about ______, would you like to hear it?” The artist has the option to say no.
As responders, we try to remark on what’s “exciting” or “striking” (we use that one a lot) instead of saying “I really liked…” (which we still say and is totally fine, too). I feel like poetry workshops have a reputation for being a place where people come and get their work ripped apart, which is not healthy or helpful, so it’s fun to experiment with a different model. I first learned about Critical Response Process on Rachel Zucker’s Commonplace Podcast, Episode 104.
Poem of the Week
Then we read our poem of the week, Bernadette Mayer’s “Chocolate Poetry Sonnet” and discussed our statements of meaning.
Bernadette Mayer, source: Kelly Writers House
Generative Exercise
Finally, we spent about 15 minutes generating our next poem using one of Mayer’s writing experiments. It goes like this:
Take a traditional text like the pledge of allegiance to the flag. For every noun, replace it with one that is seventh or ninth down from the original one in the dictionary. For instance, the word "honesty" would be replaced by "honey dew melon." Investigate what happens; different dictionaries will produce different results.
Maybe it didn’t create a complete, finished poem, but several of us captured interesting lines and turns of phrase.
And we closed by listening to Bernadette Mayer herself read the “Chocolate Poetry Sonnet.”