Scout Turkel, Instructor

During this generative working group, we will read and write in critical relation to concepts of descent and extraction in poetry — falling into, getting stuck below, and leaving behind “the earth.” In comparative conversation with the Kinney Center’s rare book collection, we will consider an array of poets who move beyond and below the earth-as-surface to critique representations of extraction and descent in geologic, mythic, and poetic history. Texts to be examined include Adam Lonicer's Kreuterbuch (1564), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1632 edition), Alice Notley’s book-length epic The Descent of Alette (1992), and Muriel Rukeyser’s poem sequence “The Book of the Dead,” first published in U.S. 1 (1938). These texts will provide starting points for responding to the notion of "descent," across disparate centuries, in the mode of poetry.

This working group is designed to provoke conversation, writing, and thinking in trans-historical and trans-spatial dialogue among poets, scholars, and community members. Experience with writing poetry is not required for participation, but a willingness to write and think in a collaborative and poetic mode is necessary.