ASWM Conference May 5-6, Syracuse NY
Registration Links and Conference information here
Annie Finch is an award-winning American poet, writer, translator, speaker, teacher, and performer. She is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems. Her other works include influential essays, books, and anthologies on poetics, feminism, and women’s earth-based spirituality. She is widely recognized for her mesmerizing poetry performances and mastery of poetic craft. Her poetry has appeared in the New York Times, Poetry Magazine, Paris Review, and the Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, and has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Malayalam, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
WORKSHOP: “Writing the Rhythm of Water” This workshop invites you into the rolling cadences of the meter of water, the oldest known rhythmical language pattern in English. Entering water’s compassionate channel of words, we will tap into lost parts of ourselves with techniques that have opened a useful path of self-exploration for yogis, artists, healers, and seekers of many traditions as well as writers and poets. Bridging thought and intuition, body and spirit, and the two hemispheres of the brain, the magical Goddess-gift of rhythmical language is a human birthright and a fundamental tool of traditional cultures. Reclaim your own access to this enchanting tool, moving your voice into an ancient healing flow of the world’s heart. No previous experience with rhythmical writing is necessary. Please bring at least nine sheets of paper at least 8 1/2 inches wide, writing utensils including pencil and eraser, a journal or other place for contemplative writing, and an open heart.
Panel Presentation: “Opening Hearts with the Meter of Water” Of all the poetic meters in English, the rolling, flowing dactylic rhythm is most closely associated with the qualities of water. Brought down to us from the days of maricultural societies through ancient epic poems with roots in oral poetic tradition, the dactylic rhythm can open our hearts to compassion and healing. Research shows that reading aloud dactylic poems speeds healing from a heart attack. Even in daily life, people tend to speak from their hearts in dactylic meter. This paper will introduce this fascinating rhythm and trace its role in ancient and modern poetry and ceremonial language and discuss the roots of its identity as the quintessential anti-patriarchal meter in English.
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