BART 97A92 - Ecopoetics: Poetry and Ecology

Eco means house (from the Greek oikos) and poetics means to make (from the Greek poiesis). Ecopoetics encourages us to consider how we impact our home planet, Earth. Through luminous details and vivid imagery, ecopoetry can oscillate between micro and macro rhetorical registers and encourage us to think critically about how we effect the environment. This course lays out some of the tools and techniques that can be employed in composing ecopoetry. We will cover some of the principal issues in and theoretical critiques of the environmental crisis through engagement with different approaches to contemporary writing and hands-on practice resulting in a solid body of work. We will write poems to workshop in group and analyse literary texts alongside our practice. The course is divided into four sections corresponding to four elements of nature (earth, air, water, and fire). In order to strengthen our environmental literacy, we will read scientific articles and critical texts alongside a selection of poems by Juliana Spahr, CA Conrad, Lisa Robertson, Bernadette Mayer, Gary Snyder, Fred Moten, Natalie Diaz, and Anne Carson among others. Academic expectations A large portion of your grade for this practice-based course is regular, engaged participation, which includes preparation. We hear often that you're only as good a writer as you are a reader; careful reading pushes our writing to a high standard and expands our sense of what poetry can do. You're graded on your dedication to the course and to your practice as a writer, not on the literary merit of your work. 4 ‘sketches', 1-3 pages (weekly exercises that demand re-drafting and concision) Mid-term workshop submission, 3-5 pages (this can scaffold to your longer, final work, but it doesn't have to) Final workshop submission, 6-10 pages Presentation: short craft talk on a contemporary work of ecopoetry of your choosing (10min) Portfolio consisting of One sketch, revised and edited Midterm piece, revised and edited Final piece, revised and edited (if your midterm is part of your final, you need only submit your final; in this case your final should be closer to ten pages) A page-long reflection on the development of your writing over the course of the workshop

Emma GOMIS

Atelier

English

BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, Will, ‘The Bedouin Ark', Fence Magazine, https://fenceportal.org/the-bedouin-ark/ Berssenbrugge, Mei-mei, ‘Pollen', Conjunctions, No. 20, UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1993), pp. 135-39, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24515316 Collom, Jack, ‘Ecology', from Red Car Goes By: Selected Poems 1955-2000, ( Tuumba Press, 2001), https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53245/ecology-56d2325e956ee Conrad, CA, ‘The Right to Manifest Manifesto', A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon, (Wave Books, 2012) https://poets.org/text/right-manifest-manifesto Duncan, Robert, The Opening of the Field, (New Directions, 1973) Gladman, Renee, The Ravickians, (Dorothy Press, 2011) Haraway, Donna, ‘Introduction', Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Clutholocene, (Duke University Press, 2016) Howe, Susan, ‘Thorow', Singularities, (Wesleyan University Press, 1990) ‘Introduction', This is Not a Drill: Extinction Rebellion Handbook, (Penguin, 2019) Longsoldier, Layli, Whereas, (Graywolf Press, 2017) Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, in Revolution: A Reader, edited by Lisa Robertson and Matthew Stadler (Paraguay Press, 2012) Mayer, Bernadette ‘Farmers Exchange', Proper Names & Other Stories, (New Directions, 1996) Mendieta, Ana, ‘A Selection of Statements and Notes', Sulfur (Ypsilanti, Mich.) no. 22 (1988), p. 70 Robertson, Lisa, ‘How Pastoral', XEclogue (New Star Books, 1999) Reines, Ariana, A Sandbook, (Tin House Books, 2019) Snyder, Gary, ‘Mount Saint Helens: Loowit' and ‘After Bamiya', Danger on Peaks, (Counterpoint, 2004) Sze, Arthur, ‘The Redshifting Web', The Redshifting Web, (Copper Canyon Press,1998) Vicuña, Cecilia, ‘Ten Metaphors in Space' and ‘Poetry in Space', Unravelling Words & the Weaving of Water, Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Suzanne Jill Levine (Minnesota: Graywolf Press, 1992) Zukofsky, Louis, 80 Flowers (Stinehour Press, 1978)

Spring 2024-2025

Class and workshop participation: 40% Weekly sketches: 10% Portfolio (and timely workshop submissions): 50% Late work policy For sketches, if you miss the 6pm deadline, your work cannot receive feedback that week. There is an opportunity to turn it in for half credit by class time the same week. For the sake of the smooth running of our course, any work submitted after workshop will not receive credit or feedback. Midterm and Final workshop submissions are also subject to a strict lateness policy: three points deducted from your portfolio grade for every day late. Late arrival policy A student's arrival at a course meeting more than 10 minutes late may be considered an unexcused absence. In all cases of missed course meetings, the responsibility for communication with the professor and for arranging to make up missed work rests solely with the student. Whether an absence (excused or unexcused) is accepted or not is always at the discretion of the professor or the department. Unexcused absences can result in a low or failing grade. Students must be mindful of this policy when making their travel arrangements.

Session 1 : EARTH / Anthropocene and Economies of Attention Readings : CA Conrad, ‘The Right to Manifest Manifesto', Extinction Rebellion, ‘Introduction', Ana Mendieta ‘Earthworks', Donna Haraway, ‘Introduction' Staying with the Trouble Assignments : 1-3 page sketch Séance 2 : EARTH / Complicating the Pastoral Readings : Lucretius,'On the Nature of Things', Lisa Robertson, ‘How Pastoral', Layli Longsoldier, selections from Whereas Assignments : 1-3 page sketch Séance 3 : EARTH / Poetic Procedures Readings : Jack Collom, ‘Passage', Susan Howe, ‘Thorow', Ariana Reines selections from A Sandbook, Bernadette Mayer ‘Farmers Exchange' Assignments : 1-3 page sketch Séance 4 : AIR / Writing in the Expanded Field Readings : Will Alexander, ‘The Bedouin Ark', Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, ‘Pollen', Robert Duncan, ‘The Opening of the Field' Assignments : Midterm workshop submission 3-5 pages Séance 5 : AIR / Breathing Aesthetics Readings : Gary Snyder, ‘Mount Saint Helens: Loowit' and ‘After Bamiya', Arthur Sze, ‘The Redshifting Web' (excerpt), Renee Gladman The Ravickians excerpts Workshop Group 1 Assignments : craft talk presentations Séance 6 : AIR / Place & Space Readings : Cecilia Vicuña, ‘Ten Metaphors in Space' and ‘Poetry in Space', Louis Zukofsky '80 Flowers' excerpts Workshop Group 2, craft talk presentation Séance 7 : WATER / Floods Readings : Sherwin Bitsui, Flood Song (excerpt), Alice Oswald, ‘Interview with Water', H.D. ‘Sea Iris', Forrest Gander, ‘Ecopoetry and Water' Workshop Group 3 Séance 8 : WATER / Water Lines and Fluid Boundaries Readings : Dorothy Wordsworth,‘Floating Island', Fred Moten, ‘tonk and waterfront, black line fade, unbuilt hotel, that union hall', Natalie Diaz ‘from The Museum of American Water' Workshop Group 4, craft talk presentation Assignments : Final workshop pieces 6-10 pages Séance 9 : WATER / Documentary Ecopoetics Readings : Anne Carson, excerpts from The Anthropology of Water, Jorie Graham, ‘Sea Change', Jordan Scott Decomp, Juliana Spahr, excerpts from things of each possible relation hashing against one another Workshop Group 1 craft talk presentation Séance 10 : FIRE / Destruction Readings : Eleni Sikelianos, The California Poem (selection), Paula Gunn Allen and Ed Sanders ‘Danzeling on the Age of the Volcano' Workshop Group 2 Séance 11 : FIRE / Heat Readings : Forrest Gander, ‘The Future of the Past: the Carboniferous & Ecological Poetics', Linda Russo ‘Place-relation ecopoetics: A collective glossary', Thylias Moss ‘A Hot Time in a Small Town' Workshop Group 3 Assignments : 1-2 page sketch Séance 12 : FIRE / Poetic Procedures Readings : Tommy Pico, Naturepoem, Eric Magrane ‘Various Instructions for the Practice of Poetic Field Research', Workshop Group 4