In this workshop we will consider the ways that reading or writing a poem might be an act of resuscitation. An awakening of one’s “sight,” mind and questions. We will read the work of writers whose texts are original, strange, wondering, and will consider the powers of such elements (and here I am hearing Paul Celan in “The Meridian” translated by Pierre Joris: “The poem estranges. It estranges by its existence, by the mode of its existence, it stands opposite and against one, voiceful and voiceless simultaneously, as language, as language setting itself free…” Participants: please come ready to read, experiment, write. Each participant should bring a copy of a meaningful, mysterious, powerful/potent, resonant photo from their personal album or archive.
ARACELIS GIRMAY is the author of three books of poems: The Black Maria (BOA, 2016), Teeth (Curbstone Press, 2007) and Kingdom Animalia (BOA, 2011), the winner of the Isabella Gardner Award and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. She is also the author/illustrator of the collage-based picture book changing, changing. Current collaborations include an interview with Emmy Pérez and a poetry translation project with visual artist and writer Rosalba Campra. She has received grants, training, and fellowships in support of her projects from the NEA, The Whiting Foundation, Civitella Ranieri, the Cave Canem Foundation, and the Community~Word Project. Girmay is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund.
View poet's page
