Workshop
How to Build a Grass Hut; 5-Session Workshop with Latif Askia Ba
“I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value… Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.”
—Shitou Xiqian
How do poems create authentic shelter for marginalized bodies, histories, and practices? And why should poets fine-tune their perception and awareness when the world they’re currently witnessing seems to be filled with chaos and suffering? Or in other words, why write poetry in times of war and despotism?In this 5-session workshop, we will study the work of Black, Fem, Disabled, and Queer poets and engage in body-oriented writing rituals to gain techniques and insights for better building our own “grass hut.” What kind of material, bindings, furniture, tools, and practices do we need to maintain our hut and what are the terrain, weather, and cohabitants like outside of our shelter? Together we will investigate our bodies as shelter and slowly expand our focus to vaster conceptions of home. We will attempt to travel some of the myriad paths poetry provides us “to come home.”
