Poetic Expressions of Illness and the Changed Sense of Time

Poetic Expressions of Illness and the Changed Sense of Time (starting at $79)

Language and experience are in constant conversation. Experience prompts us to look for the right words that help us process changes in our lives. Thus, we enter a journey in language that, in turn, affects our experience. Language is the way we maintain equilibrium between the inner self and the outer world.

In this workshop we explore the altered perception of time that we experience during illness. Creative writing is a process that literally “makes” language. The expressive qualities of lyric language are “transporting:” they allow both the writer and reader to traverse turbulent time by providing images and associations that speak to the universal human experience, thereby easing the weight of personal grief into a communal sense of shared consolation. We explore poetic expressions that absorb and attempt to make sense of the notion of time, and of the evolving self in time. Poems we will read are: "Screaming" by Carmen Gimenez, "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent" by Milton, "Poem 119: the courtesy of the blind" by Wisława Szymborska, and "For the time being" by Carmen Bugan. Writing exercises and feedback in class will help you generate new work.

Carmen Bugan, George Orwell Prize Fellow, published her sixth collection of poems, Tristia, earlier this year. She is an award-winning author of 10 books that include memoir, essays, and criticism. Her work has been translated into several languages, gathered international praise, and has been widely anthologized. Carmen's memoir, Burying the Typewriter, was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and she has been featured on NPR, , ABC, PRI and the BBC.