Poetry from Waking Dreams
Description:
HOW TO PLAY:
Begin at 3:15 AM on August 1st (so set your alarms on JULY 31) . Continue each day until August 31. Write any length, style, form, content, voice, rhythm, etc.
DO NOT EDIT your work. This is raw stuff, baby. That's part of the experiment. You are welcome to edit, collage, break apart the poems later for whatever purpose you choose, but please SHARE THE RAW STUFF. If you can help it, don't even get out of bed! The point is to ride that dream state, that precarious point between sleeping and waking and sleeping.
Back Story: In 1993, Poets Lee Ann Brown, Danika Dinsmore, Jen Hofer, Kathleen Large, Myshel Prasad, and Bernadette Mayer all connected at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics Summer Writing Program. Danika was writing her thesis on states of consciousness and the writing process with a focus on Bernadette's work. She and Bernadette decided to create their own collaborative writing experiment and invited Lee Ann, Jen, Kathleen and Myshel to join in the planning. It was decided they would write each morning at 3:15 AM for the entire month of August in whatever time zone they were located. It was primarily an experiment in states of consciousness and writing, recording what was happening during "3:15 AM mind."
In 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1998 the collaboration grew in size as they invited other poets to participate. The format changed and they wrote at 3:15 AM in a specified time zone (i.e. 3:15 AM EST would be 12:15 AM PST). This altered slightly the focus of the experiment into writing within a "collective consciousness." The idea was to discover what connections would be made while writing separately, but together, at the same time for a month while under hypnogogic influences.
There is a sense of camaraderie across time and distance and process.
There is process and idea clapped together, and the reverb off that clap.
Jen Hofer