Poetics Lecture: “Poetry, Panic, and the Pan-ic Experience”
by Rusty Morrison

Saturday, 11:30 am
Holter Museum of Art

In our daily lives, simply trying to digest the overwhelming amount of information that bombards us can bring on a sense of panic, and that panic can certainly increase if we consider the responsibilities that an understanding of that information may inevitably engender.

Are poems (especially current works labeled by some as ‘difficult’) simply one more kind of information to be managed and, in periods of panic, held at bay? Or are they actually different in kind—offering a useful antidote in times of stress or anxiety? Do some poems actually enter the body and mind in a different, a more dramatic, performative way than other more discursive, more transparent kinds of information?

Can the very poems that, for some of us, induce a bit of panic initially, also affect us beneficially by offering new rubrics for organizing our thinking, new opportunities to reconnect more intimately with our bodies, with others, with the natural world? Often, when a poem moves us emotionally or intuitively, rather than logically, it sets off a series of physical sensations, a tingle, a shiver, which may have as much to do with the way the poem speaks to us, as it does with the content.

Just as the word “panic” (meaning overwhelm) can shift, in lightning fashion, to become “Pan-ic” (which derives from the name of the Greek god who personifies nature; a guide and guardian), so too can the language in a poem shift in startling ways that enlarge our freedom to see beyond our normal or simply logical registers of understanding.

In my talk, I will further these ideas and explore the issues that they raise, while discussing a number of exemplary poems by some of today’s most interesting innovative writers.

 

Writers’ Workshops
$25 per workshop
9:00-11:00 am
Saturday, October 11
Locations to be determined
Please register in advance at the Myrna Loy Center 406.443.0287 or helenabookfest@gmail.com

 

Fred Haefele: The Art of the Essay

In this workshop, we will discuss the evolution and direction of the essay form; read essays by Orwell, Montaigne, Didion and others; figure out what makes a good essay tick; and talk about how to avoid common mistakes. We’ll also discuss the magazine market and other markets. Lastly, we'll do an in-class exercise, designed to generate 10 to 12 pages of an essay. All in two hours, with grace and humor. Bring your own coffee.

Russel Rowland: Fiction – The Last Best Story

Russell Rowland, author of In Open Spaces and The Watershed Years, explores the joy of fiction writing with his basic philosophy that “The only rule in writing fiction is that there are no rules. If you can make a story work, then it works.” We’ll do exercises to get the creative juices flowing, and hopefully inspire writers to get a jump start on stories to finish at their leisure. Russell also welcomes anyone who has the courage to bring a finished story to get it workshopped by the class.

Susanna Sonnenberg: Selective Memory—Mapping the Memoir

Using personal writing exercises, we'll explore the way memory shapes narrative, and the effect of narrative on the memories themselves. A bibliography of master works will be provided for further independent study.

Joseph Marshall III: Blending Two Cultures: Creativity and Business

Lakota author Joseph Marshall III has published 10 novels that have been translated into 11 languages. He has worked as both technical advisor and actor in television movies, including the TNT/Spielberg Emmy Award-winning mini-series, "Into the West." He is also a historian, educator, and motivational speaker. His workshop will focus on the creative and the business sides of writing, including historical fiction, non-fiction, and writing about other cultures.