COLLAGE POETRY WORKSHOP

According to literary theorist Gregory Ulmer, "collage is the single most revolutionary formal innovation in artistic representation to occur in our [twentieth] century". The word collage comes from the French verb coller and refers literally to "pasting, sticking, or gluing," as in the application of wallpaper. In French, collage is also idiomatic for an “illicit” sexual union, two unrelated “items”, being pasted or stuck together.

This workshop will start with a brief introduction to the art and history of grafting poetry from other texts, including examples, and will then move to a hands-on poetry free-for-all—a space to play and get subversive with language.

For participants, the workshop is an opportunity to develop and incorporate the modular techniques of collage into their poetic practice. Participants should bring some materials to cut up (newspapers, magazines, old books, or a laptop with electronic texts to cut-and-paste from); all other materials (scissors, paper, glue) will be provided.