READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

Please make sure that you have purchased the required texts for the course, and please read as much as possible, as early on as possible, of the prose poem and flash fiction anthologies. These will give you ample ideas and models for the multiplicity of ways in which you can approach your own multi-genre works. Additionally, these texts will provide you with examples to discuss/analyze in your two written papers due during the course of the semester.

This week (Tuesday, January 30), we will begin workshopping the haibun. Please make sure to write ample, substantive comments (both conceptual/content and editorial comments, please) on each Xeroxed poem. Don't forget that you will be submitting your workshop comments to me for credit, and that submission of substantive written workshop comments is worth a solid chunk of points in the class. (As an FYI, we will workshop in alphabetical order. Please, therefore plan on reading and preparing written/verbal comments on approximately thirteen works.)

Don't forget that Assignment #2 (Flash Fiction/Microfiction) will be due (with 27 workshop copies) on Tuesday, February 6. Your flash fiction piece should not be longer than 1,000 words, and should consciously employ aspects of craft and technique generally associated with traditional fiction (i.e., narrative/plot, characterization, dialogue, etc.) However, this doesn't mean that your piece can't be experimental, or surreal, in nature. Due to the concision of the form, you'll want to pay close attention to issues of language and image -- techniques more commonly associated with poetry. Avoid relying merely on narrative summary, however, and once again, read the flash fiction anthology for ideas/models on how to handle this assignment.