Re-Visions of the Future: Poetry and Ritual
Schools of Public Engagement: BPATS
CRN: 15878
Credits: 3
In Ancient Rome, diviners are said to have gazed into mirrors to experience hallucinations of the future. People all around the world continue to draw tarot cards to gain connective insight into their past, present, and future. Amidst the climate crisis, discriminatory technologies, and other violent projections of the future, how can we as poets borrow from divination practices to see ordinary objects and ourselves anew? Poet CAConrad, who devised the (Soma)tic Poetry Exercises, says, “Poetry and ritual are two ancient technologies that I can say firsthand can change our lives with their abilities to conduct discoveries and, yes, to also heal.” As a class we will read works from visionary poets who write about or with rituals, recipes, jokes, playlists, spells, dreams, fantasies, and more such as Franny Choi, CAConrad, Eve Ewing, Ross Gay, Sky Hopinka, Robin Coste Lewis, Tommy Pico, Danez Smith, Jackie Wang, and more. Students will also write in community against despair, with an emphasis on revision. We must believe that another future is possible. Even if the future is already written, we can revise it.
College: Schools of Public Engagement (NS)
Department: BPATS (BPAT)
Campus: New York City (GV)
Course Format: Seminar (R)
Modality: In-Person
Max Enrollment: 21
Add/Drop Deadline: February 3, 2025 (Monday)
Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 15, 2025 (Tuesday)
Seats Available: Yes
Status: Open*
* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 12:14am EDT 10/13/2024