ASSIGNMENTS AND READINGS FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2007

We will workshop the first half of your prose monologues in alphabetical order, beginning with:

Your next assignment will be to submit a poetic memoir excerpt, due with workshop copies on Tuesday, April 10. Here are the guidelines:

Since this is memoir, the material must be taken from your own life experiences, and they must be true.

The memoir must be "poetic" in nature, in terms of how you use language and imagery. In other words, rather than a more straightforward memoir that relies heavily on fictional craft and technique, this should read like memoir that's more heavily charged with poetic craft and technique.

For the sake of workshop space, please limit your poetic memoir excerpt to no more than 1,000 words, or 4 pages. This may help you select an appropriately framed/sized memory for consideration in your memoir excerpt.

Please be careful to avoid sentimentality and cliche, as much as possible.

Please read the following memoir selections by poets Mark Doty and Li-Young Lee that rely on poetic techniques. You can consider these as possible models, or examples of ways in which you can begin to consider the possibilities of this form. (These links will download as PDF documents):

Click HERE for an excerpt from Mark Doty's memoir, Firebird.

Click HERE for excerpt from Li-Young Lee's memoir, Winged Seed