CW697: Documentary
Poetics Jill
McDonough
Fall 2019 jill.mcdonough@umb.edu
Thursdays 7-9:45pm W-06-47 W-06-73
This Course:
This immersive course will give you
tools and inspiration to develop your own assignments for researched poems
based on your interests. Each week we will read and imitate examples by poets
ranging from Muriel Rukeyser to Tyehimba Jess; feel free to email me if you
come across a poem you want us to look at as a class. We will also work as a
class to help each student develop an ambitious series of poems that draw on
research and primary source materials. I’m imagining sonnet sequences on
runaway slave notices, ballads on broadsides, and free verse on watching your
classmates digging into a digital archive.
Students will begin the term by creating
a shared public resource that will serve as an annotated bibliography of
important books of researched poems. At Documentarypoetics.blogspot.com,
students will post photographs and brief descriptions of several books, including
poetic form, notes, quotations, sources, and subject matter. Then each
student will use this shared resource to choose three that will be their personal
required texts for the course.
Here are the books we will look at
as a class so far; I would love for us to continue to add to this resource as
we discover additional relevant texts.
Lisa Allen
Beers, Shaindel. The Children’s
War
Biss, Eula. The Balloonists
Boruch, Marianne. Cadaver,
Speak
Bouwsma, Julia. Midden
Boyer, Anne. Garments Against
Women
Bradfield, Elizabeth. Toward
Antarctica
Emmy Boes
Brown, Molly McCully. The
Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded
Cassells, Cyrus. The
Crossed-Out Swastika
Choi, Don Mee. Hardly War
Christina, Dominique. Anarcha
Speaks
Collins, Martha. Admit One
Collins, Martha. Blue Front
Collins, Martha. White Papers
Lane Fields
Cooley, Nicole. The Afflicted
Girls
Cramer, Stephen. Clangings
Dungy, Camille T. Suck on the
Marrow
Eady, Cornelius. Brutal
Imagination
Faizullah, Tarfia. Seam
Fisher, Gilliam. Kettle Bottom
Lizzy Gagne
Flenniken, Kathleen. Plume
Gibson, Margaret, Memories of
the Future
Giscombe, C. S. Giscombe Road
Hadas, Pamela White. Beside
Herself
Harrington, Joseph. Things Come
On
Hart, Pamela. Mothers Over Nangarhar
Hayes, Terrance. American
Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
Tasha Goss
Hill, Sean. Blood Ties and
Brown Liquor
Hu, Tung-Hui, Greenhouses,
Lighthouses
Jacobs, Jessica. Pelvis with
Distance
Jess, Tyehimba. Leadbelly
Jess, Tyehimba. OLIO
Jordan, A. Van. MACNOLIA
Pratna Kem
Judd, Bettina. Patient
Kusserow, Adrie. Refuge
Kalogeruis, George. Guide to
Greece
Kasdorf, Julia Spicher and
photographer Steven Rubin. Shale Play
Klobah, Loretta Collins. Ricantations
Kunetz, Ilyse. Angel Bones
Julie Krzanowski
Lewis, Robin Coste. Voyage of
the Sable Venus
Long, Haniel. Pittsburgh
Memoranda
Lamon, Jacqueline Jones. Last
Seen
Lowell, Robert. Life Studies
and For the Union Dead
Martelli, Jennifer. My
Tarantella
Matejka, Adrian. Map to the
Stars
Xotchil Martinez
Matejka, Adrian. The Big Smoke
Mattawa, Khaled. Tocqueville
Maxwell, Glynn. The Sugar Mile
Mayer, Bernadette. Works &
Days
McCrae, Shane. Blood
Metres, Philip. Sand Opera
Jake Phillips
Nelson, Maggie. Jane
Nelson, Marilyn. My Seneca
Village
Nevison, Susannah. Lethal
Theater
Nowak, Mark. Coal Mountain
Elementary
Osman, Jena. Public Figures
Parker, Morgan. Magical Negro
Wafaa Razeq
Philip, M. NourbeSe. Zong!
Rankine, Claudia. Don’t Let Me
Be Lonely
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen
Reines, Ariana. Mercury
Reines, Ariana. The Cow
Reines, Ariana. Coeur De Lion
Sarah Shapiro
Rekdal, Paisley. Nightingale
Reznikoff, Charles. Holocaust
Reznikoff, Charles. Poems
1918-1975
Richardson, Rachel. Hundred-Year
Wave
Roderick, David. Blue Colonial
Rukeyser, Muriel. The Book of
the Dead
Sanders, Ed. Investigative
Poetry
Sharif, Solmaz. Look
Christie Towers
Sleigh, Tom. House of Fact,
House of Ruin
Sleigh, Tom. Station Zed
Smith, Patricia. Blood Dazzler
Smith, Patricia. Incendiary Art
Smith, Tracy K. Wade in the
Water
Soldier, Layli Long. Whereas
Stone, Nomi. Kill Class
Strong, Robert. Bright Advent
Teague, Alexandra. Or What
We’ll Call Desire
Megan Waring
Teague, Alexandra. The Wise and
Foolish Builders
Tobin, Daniel. From Nothing
Trethewey, Natasha, Native
Guard
Trethewey, Natasha, Bellocq’s
Ophelia
Turner, Brian. Here, Bullet
Van Clief Stefanon, Lyrae. ]Open
Interval[
Vang, Mai Der. Afterland
Andria Warren
Vaun, Arto. Capillarity
Veach, Cindy. Gloved Against
Blood
Voigt, Ellen Bryant. Kyrie
Wright, C. D. One Big Self
Yoon, Emily Jungmin. A Cruelty
Special to Our Species
Young, Kevin. Ardency
Zamora, Javier. Unaccompanied
As a class, we will talk about the
importance of transparency when acknowledging sources. For the first few weeks
we will spring from our reading and discussion to reverse engineering texts, to
imagine how our authors saw their own tasks: what did their assignments for
themselves look like? How can we imitate their work by tackling our own
assignments through the lens of our interests?
We will begin by working on these together, using online research in the
classroom to inform students’ individual trajectories. After reading,
discussing, and imitating published work, you will decide what you want to
accomplish in your own original writing; you’ll keep track of your sources
in frequently updated annotated bibliographies of texts you uncover, and
revise creative work that draws on and cites source material.
You will have the opportunity to
seek out sources that are particular to your interests, and present your
findings to the class. You will also seek out and analyze writing you want as
models for your own work. In class we will work together following links on
Athena, the online catalog of the Boston Athenaeum, to document the paths we
create as we follow our interests; I’ll
show you how looking for “Murder” in All Fields, then limiting the results to
rare books, can lead to the 1676 A
True and perfect account of the examination, confession, tryal and condemnation
and execution of Joan Perry, and her two sons, John Perry and Richard Perry for
the supposed murder of William Harrison, Gent, which leads to some google
searches that indicate the murder weapon was an “inkle,” another word for a
hair-tie.This can lead to looking for “Hair”
in All Fields, which leads to the
racist 1830 title The true-telling
gipsy or, Complete art of fortune-telling by cards, moles, lines in the hands,
features of the face, colour of the hair, and by the grounds of a tea or coffee
cup : together with charms & ceremonies to foretel future events,
particularly how to make the dumb cake, to know whom you shall marry, &c,
which lets us know that “fortune telling” and “charms” are both Library of
Congress subjects we can look up, which leads us to “amulets”
and “talismans.” Googling “dumb cake” teaches us girls would make it in
silence on St. Mark’s Eve to find out the identity of their future husbands. And
gives us dozens of directions to follow for research-inspired writing, before
we even take into account your own interests.
Some archives to get you started:
Required Texts:
1.
Blue Front by Martha Collins; Martha will be
visiting our class in October. I wanted to make all her books required texts,
but I know money is tight.
2.
Three
additional texts, chosen by you after reviewing the resource we are creating
together, documentarypoetics.blogspot.com
3.
Copies of poems for discussion. You’ll get these at least 48 hours before
class, and print them out and write on them. If your own poem has substantive
changes, bring in fresh copies for everyone
Readings:
To get on a terrific list of local poetry readings, email
Daniel Bouchard, Senior Production Coordinator, The MIT Press Journals: bouchard@mit.edu
Grading:
Participation: 50%
Final Project: 50%
ROSS
CENTER FOR DISABILITIES
If you have a disability that may affect your performance
in this class, please know that UMass Boston has resources that can help you
succeed in your coursework. Please contact the Ross Center for Disabilities
(Campus Center UL211) to receive official university services and accommodations;
they will provide you with documentation that you then bring to your instructor.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism
is defined by UMass Boston’s Code of Student Conduct. An act of academic
dishonesty, plagiarism can include actions such as presenting another writer’s
work as your own work; copying passages from print or internet sources without
proper citation; taking ideas off the internet, modifying them, and presenting
them as your own; or submitting the same work for more than one course. If you
plagiarize, you will fail this course. Plagiarism cases can be referred to the
Chair of the English Department. Also note that plagiarism can result in
further academic sanctions such as suspension. The Code is available online at:
https://www.umb.edu/life_on_campus/policies/community/code
INCOMPLETES
Incompletes are rarely offered, as they are reserved for
students who are unable to complete a small portion of the course at the end of
the term due to an extreme
circumstance such as illness. Incompletes are not allowed to replace a
significant amount of coursework or absences. If you are awarded an Incomplete,
you must complete a formal Incomplete Contract and have that contract approved
by the department and submitted to the Registrar. The contract outlines the
Work to be done and due dates. An INC automatically turns into an F after a
year; Incomplete work will be due before the year’s end.
Academic Support
Support for students who are struggling academically or who
simply want to improve is available at the Office of Academic Support. For more
information about available services go to CC-1-1300, call 617-287-6550, or
check out this web site: http://www.academicsupport.umb.edu/
Schedule:
Sept. 5: Introductions, discussion of what we want
to achieve this term. Writing in
meter. Discussing Habeas Corpus—I’ll
email you proofs of it before class starts. Jill hands out books for
presentations. Discuss 10/10 Presentations on independent research and project
direction.
Sept. 12: No class. Post
your annotated bibliography entries at documentarypoetics.blogspot.com by 7pm
9/12. Read this essay: http://www.pilotlightjournal.org/1/3/0?fbclid=IwAR3xTXkoPBnpOT1zKxNd6dRN4Juq1obIgXg0vCeNZ54HhNDfwHkurGls6HY
Think about how the books you are reading
incorporate source, fact, and literature, as the essay points out Rukeyser’s Book
of the Dead uses senate testimony, interview, and the Egyptian Book of
the Dead.
Sept.19: Presentations:
based on the Documentary Poetics blog, tell the class which three books you
want to make your personal assigned texts and why. Bring your laptops/devices:
freewriting exercises based on Alexandra Teague’s “Letter to America”: https://www.terrain.org/2019/poetry/letter-to-america-teague/?fbclid=IwAR2jGhlQsdck72IJh0fq8IHo9jRny45hXLbLeMLjAaDnyNDBs_JuSgrpoqA
and creating
annotated bibliographies of materials from Athena, the Boston Athenaeum’s
Online Catalog. Email your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm
Tuesday.
Sept. 26: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop. Email
your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Oct. 3: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop. Email
your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Oct. 10: Presentations
on independent research and project direction. Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop.
Oct. 17: Martha
Collins visit. Email your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm
Tuesday.
Oct. 24: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in
order. Workshop. Email your classmates your poem for next workshop by
7pm Tuesday.
Oct. 31 Project check-in: how’s
your bibliography looking? Exercises.
Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop. Email your
classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Nov. 7: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop. Email
your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Nov. 14: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop. Email
your classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Nov. 21: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in order. Workshop.
Nov. 28: Thanksgiving: No Class. Email your
classmates your poem for next workshop by 7pm Tuesday.
Dec. 5: Exercises. Bring in your classmates’ poems in
order. Workshop.
Dec. 12:
Presentation of final projects
Email me your portfolio
by 11:59pm December 12.
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