MY NEW YORK CITY
A Poetry Workshop
Of Self & Memory
Through Your City
With Poet SM Gray
There are two ways to participate:
or
Check out the weekly writing prompt below from SM Gray, grab a notebook or some paper, and get down to write on your own!
Parachute Literary Arts invites all of you to join us and write your New York City.
Join us in #MyNewYorkCity!
Ready?
Writing Prompt Week #4:
“Places as Characters: Loss and Presence”
In week 4 in My NYC, we will continue the journey we started, with slow and expanding exploration of NYC in different ways, to inspire our poetry. In week 1, we explored what we remembered in NYC before and after the pandemic started. In week 2, we explored NYC “mindsets”. In week 3, we explored NYC “routines, walks and every day journeys”.
Now, in week four, we will use all of previous weeks to jumpstart this week’s work. With exploration of what we’ve missed, NYC mindsets and our regular routines, we will now explore specific businesses and/or places with a singular focus, and a special attention to those we have lost even pre-pandemic, e.g. small businesses that fight for survival. We will explore Aaron Cometbus’s work that shines light on those “vanishing NY” places that seem to disappear before our eyes. For this week’s prompts, we will go back and look at the last 3 weeks’ work and find *one* place to explore in a poem. We will aim to do this one *one* place that has closed or been lost to high rent or gentrification or retiring or death of the long term owner. We will also aim to do this with one place that has hung on for a long time and keeps going somehow.
Prompt:
1. To start, write down a list of places that have closed down that you miss, ideally long time places, within the last 5-10 years. Just write the list for now.
2. Now, pick one of these places and write what you miss specifically about it or its details. You may use these prompts:
Dear __________eg Bakery…
I miss your ___________food..
Where did ____________go?
Why did _______________?
I dream I visit ________________
3. Second main prompt:
Make a list of still surviving places, ideally for long time that you cling to and hope doesn’t close, but perhaps you’ve worried about it.
Part 2: Now, pick one, and write a letter to it or description, as above, with a twist:
Dear __________(eg Bakery…)
I will never tire of your ___________food..
How do you survive____________?
Why did _______________?
I dream I ________________.....
Here are two exercises/prompts we will explore in this session:
- Think about you regular journeys pre-pandemic via regular walks (or drives, buses, train, cab, car for hire, etc) and what you saw over and over, that you could draw a picture of and actually write down each place that you see, e.g. businesses, buildings, nature spots, vacant lots, the regulars hanging out and so forth. Write down what you see on one of these blocks or walks in one long horizontal or vertical list or mixed graphic/scribbles/sketches with text. Let the list be the pre-poem for now before step 2 below:
- Now, with that “places” list you just wrote either running horizontal or vertical down your page, then do this: on the other side of this "places" list, on right or left, or top or bottom, complete this phrase with inspiration from Berrigan: "Worry about __________on a walk..." Continue to replicate it, either by repeating "Worry about..." each line or repeating it periodically with the places alternating each line or every other line. As you pass by certain places in your memory-thought, what runs through your mind?
- Final step: review both of these lists and get out a new piece of paper or open a new Word doc or open a new note on your phone. Incorporate your places and alternate with your thoughts for this poem exercise. EG Write a “worry about...” line and then list a spot...and repeat. If you get into a groove and don't need to look at your lists anymore, feel free to do so. Aim for 10-15 lines of any shape, size or spacing.
Parachute Literary Arts in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library is offering MY NEW YORK CITY, a series of six free online creative writing workshops this summer! You may join for one or all of the workshops. Open to all experience levels!
Dates: Saturdays from August 8 - August 15
(8/08, 8/15)
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Here are the registration links:
Registration is limited to 12 participants.
Once you register, you will receive a link to the event.
Note: You must register for each of the six sessions separately.
This series is offered with Closed Captioning and recommended for adults and teens.
Participants will be invited to share their writing by email to parachutefestival@gmail.com and to post on Parachute Literary Art’s Twitter or Facebook, with the hashtag #MyNewYorkCity.
The workshop will culminate in a digital and limited-edition print anthology of participants' works designed and printed by artist and printer, Sarah Nicholls!
My New York City Course Description:
What does it mean to really "know" a neighborhood, city, or street? What do you know that others don't? Poetry and prose about NYC will be introduced for inspiration, exploring themes such as gentrification, neighborhoods and "vanishing" NYC. Writing prompts will be given to encourage drawing out hidden or lesser seen stories, and participants may go out into their neighborhoods to write about and get inspired by nearby locations. Participants’ new writings will be shared weekly with classmates and instructor for feedback.
Stay safe, fight the power, wear a mask, and be kind to one another.
We can't wait to see your New York City!
xo Parachute
SM Gray is a poet/filmmaker/photographer and author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Words Are What You Get/You Do It For Real (above ground press, 2019). A recent “poem-film”, 63 Acres: Dear Danny Lyon, about the disappeared lower-Manhattan "63 acres" per legendary photographer Lyon that were demolished with no public outcry in the 1960s, screened internationally, including at Antimatter, Engauge, Cadence, and Mono No Aware film festivals.
Parachute Literary Arts is a community arts non-profit in Coney Island founded by poet Amanda Deutch in 2009 and incorporated in 2018. We celebrate and honor Coney Island’s literary history and presence through site-specific events, festivals, writing workshops, and poetry libraries. We believe in the arts as a catalyst for empowerment and change. Visit our website at: www.ParachuteArts.org. Follow us on twitter @ParachuteArts
