Poetic Directions #1

Poetic Directions, Version # 1 due: april 30, 2008 to amanda's home address
written by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein with conceptual guidance from Chicago artists Jennifer Mayes and Jeff Kay

1. Leave.
2. Walk ten steps in any direction.
3. Stop. Look straight ahead. What do you notice? Write a haiku.
4. Walk ten steps in any direction.
5. Listen. Write down eight words to tell the story of those sounds.
6. Keep walking the number of steps equal to your age.
7. Stop. Look for the person closest to you and ask, "What are you going through right now?"
8. Write down their response.
9. Walk ten steps in any direction.
10. Stop. Breathe. Write about the ugliest thing you can see or think of right now.
11. Stop. Breathe. Write about the most beautiful thing you can see or think of right now.
12. Keep walking in the direction of blue.
13. What is sadness to you, right now? Write a haiku.
14. Find a place to sit down.
15. Write a brief love letter.
16. Call a friend right now and ask, "Where have you been today and where are you going?"
17. Take careful notes on this conversation.
18. Keep walking the number of steps equal to your mother's age when she met your father.
19. Think of your mother. Write down 3 questions for her. Make her a promise.
20. Arrive.