Thursday, May 15th, 2025, 5:00PM-7:00PM
Meeting will take place in the Poetry Center's Alumni Room, Room 205; limit 12 students. General registration will open on Tuesday, December 17th at 10:00AM.
In this workshop we’ll explore various ways to get outside our heads in writing — to see if it’s possible to get beyond ourselves as a way of getting more serious about ourselves and our writing. To this end we’ll practice some guided zen meditation (to clear the heart and mind) and do some writing exercises designed to get us beyond what we usually think/see/feel into some other zone. (Following words themselves as smarter than we are). Norman will share some writing by and stories about his poetic mentor, Zen priest Beat poet Philip Whalen, and some of his own work, with discussion about strategies for producing such work. Bring a few of your favorite texts (prose or poetry) which we’ll use for our exercises, and a few of your favorite photographs. We’ll have time to share and discuss. Through guided meditation and through Zen-inspired writing exercises, participants can expect to leave class with new strategies for getting beyond the mental clutter and into a productive writing space.