Abecedarians & Other Constraints

This week we’ll take on the notion of the abecedarian and combine it with a page or two from a reference book containing an alphabetical listing of words–the dictionary.

From early Hebrew poetry to Harryette Mullen, from Geoffrey Chaucer to Edward Lear, the abecedarian in an ancient poetic form that has continued to guide poets through centuries of poetic change.

This Tuesday we’ll warm up with an exercise that combines the abecedarian with a bit of dictionary divination.

After that, we’ll workshop your poems. Jeanne Morel is your guide.

Living Room 12.21.10

Writers of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels gather Tuesdays at 7P to read new work, the work of someone else or to just be in the engaging company of other writers. Your donation of $5 helps SPLAB continue our programming. Please bring 8 copies of the work you plan to read. If you do not bring copies, they are available for 10c.

Living Room happens @ SPLAB in the Cultural Corner at 3651 S. Edmunds. (Look for the SPLAB sign on the wall and come inside.) We’re 2 blocks from the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station. (Parking is available on the school grounds.)

1

apricot trees exist, apricot trees exist

2

bracken exists: and blackberries, blackberries;
bromine exists; and hydrogen, hydrogen

3

cicadas exist; chicory, chromium
citrus trees; cicadas exist;
cicadas, cedars, cypresses, the cerebellum

4

doves exist, dreamers, and dolls;
killers exist, and doves, and doves;
haze, dioxin, and days; days
exist, days and death; and poems
exist; poems, days, death

by Inger Christensen, from alphabet
translated by Susanna Nied