The Poem as a Ritualistic Structure

In the “Introduction to Somatic Poetry rituals,” which opens their collection ecodeviance: (Soma)tics for the Future Wilderness, the inimitable CAConrad reflects on the power of ritual to inhabit the present. After geographically escaping the small town where their entire family worked in a coffin factory, CA realized their poetry practice had been warped by the factory model, and their poems were recreating and perpetuating the dehumanizing systems and structures they had thought had been left behind.

Their solution was to create a series of strange and dazzling “ritualistic structures” that required the poet to disrupt received routines and social practices, and focus on an embodied experience with their immediate surroundings, including the animal, the vegetable, and fellow humans.

The following exercise asks that you explore what systems and structures shape your creative practices, and to devise a ritualistic structure that connects you to your body and the “extreme present” as you compose a poem.

Prep Work

Read CAConrad’s “Introduction to Somatic Poetry Rituals, “Equinox Eve, Silent Meeting Group” and “ecodeviance.”

Questions to consider, on your own in writing, or in discussion with others:

• What are your existing writing rituals?
• What keeps you from being present in your life and creative practices?
• What is the role of your body in reading and writing poetry?

Assignment

Create a ritual to carry out that includes at least 5 of the following:

• A new and different place to write (if you normally write inside, go outside; if you normally write alone, go find a crowd, etc.)
• One natural object that you will wear or hold next to your skin
• One man-made or fabricated object, that you will use in a way that it was not intended 
• Something to write on that is not paper
• Something to write with that is not a traditional writing instrument
• A physical movement from dance or athletics
• Singing, humming, or whistling
• Eating or drinking
• An instrument

You should write out all the steps to your ritual, and prepare any tools or materials. As you are completing the ritual, take notes on what you notice, what you experience, and any memories, associations, or questions that arise. After completing your ritual, take 15 minutes and write a draft of a poem, using your notes as helpful.