Reading
Iris McCloughan in Whale Fall by Mike Lala
The rhythmic patterns of poems that tell stories and reveal myths have been passed down from many oral and performative traditions to hold space for poetry as a sacred art. And it is often during moments of profound psychic and spiritual upheaval that humans gather together to create rituals around rhythm and storytelling, around the sacred fire that generates an abundance of myths and juxtapositions of wild language cast into the unknown future. In this workshop we will feel the ballad rising up in our bones and weave our own stories into the rhythms created in their wake. Helen Adam, Tyehimba Jess, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, TJ Anderson, Annie Finch, Lee Ann Brown, John Sims, Anne Waldman, Patti Smith, Tracie Morris will be among the luminous & visionary poets of rhythmic, incantatory consciousness that we will listen to, read, and write alongside. Embark on a six-week journey to synthesize your poetic craft into the wilding possibilities—both classical and contemporary—of the ballad tradition.
