In an argument for the unglossed, the unbound, and free distribution of poetry in a spring 1982 issue of The Poetry Project Newsletter, Bernadette Mayer writes, “this momentary and urgent dissemination of poetry, which is also full of pleasure, is not the marketplace but a kind of cupbearing for the knowledge and pleasure of poetry.” Mayer here is arguing for another way of valuing poetry, its urgency, the way it transmits its message, outside of a poetry market where worth is measured in dollars and gigs. In our Spring 2019 Dis/Courses at The Poetry Project, we will think about art-making and life-making, we will think about the pressure versus the freedom to create. We will think about the pleasure and knowledge of poetry as an act of self-care for survival. And we will consider the difference between the marketplace and the commons as a space and a method for sharing poetry.
Each meeting is free and open. Participants are invited to RSVP in advance to receive a packet of readings and other material to begin the conversation. Reading in advance, however, is not be required, nor is any particular education background or expertise. Come, talk about poetry and possibility, teach, learn, share, and connect more deeply with The Poetry Project community.
Thermal By-Products: the Energetic Communication of One’s Surroundings
Thursday, May 2, 7 pm – 9 pm
Bodies Resist, Hearts Persist: Ritual, Dance & Poetics (or: how we got 20 people to swim naked in shaker pond under the full moon)
Thursday, May 23, 7 pm – 9 pm
Writing as Radical Process / Writing Together Apart
Thursday, June 20, 7 pm – 9 pm