When I began teaching poetry writing many years ago, I adopted an exercise used by my predecessor Paula Rankin, herself a fine poet. What is there to write about, especially if you are only 19 years old and do not have many years of past life experiences? The exercise is simple. Imagine the house you grew up in, or, if you lived in more than one, the most important house you grew up in, room by room, from the top floor to the bottom. Imagine each room in as much detail as you can. But also imagine everything you can remember taking place in that room over the years, also in as much detail as you are capable of, making notes as you go. Whatever use this may have been to my students over the years, it has been an immensely valuable form of meditation for me. From the age of four until I went off on my own after graduating from college, I grew up in one house, 148 Roslyn Avenue in Canton, Ohio, and I can remember every room of that 13-room house in vivid detail, although I have not set foot in it for almost 50 years. There is a fascinating book,
June 17, 2022
June 17, 2022
June 17, 2022
When I began teaching poetry writing many years ago, I adopted an exercise used by my predecessor Paula Rankin, herself a fine poet. What is there to write about, especially if you are only 19 years old and do not have many years of past life experiences? The exercise is simple. Imagine the house you grew up in, or, if you lived in more than one, the most important house you grew up in, room by room, from the top floor to the bottom. Imagine each room in as much detail as you can. But also imagine everything you can remember taking place in that room over the years, also in as much detail as you are capable of, making notes as you go. Whatever use this may have been to my students over the years, it has been an immensely valuable form of meditation for me. From the age of four until I went off on my own after graduating from college, I grew up in one house, 148 Roslyn Avenue in Canton, Ohio, and I can remember every room of that 13-room house in vivid detail, although I have not set foot in it for almost 50 years. There is a fascinating book,