Walking in to the Fire, by Rachel McIntire
My poetic directions are inspired by a conversation Amanda and I were having some time back about the extreme sense of intimacy we shared with our sleek sensuous Macintosh’s; finger tips tipper tapping late into the night. Amanda declared that the computer was the postmodern fireplace, where people, alone and in cluster, gathered for the sharing of stories, current events and general support attached to the act of communing.
With that thought, walk into the flame.
Turn on our computer
Make a wish as you machine revs up, screen after bursting screen.
Write a code word to that wish and a date that corresponds to when you hope it will come true.
Platform fork in the roadMAC: Go in to photo booth & take a picture of yourself.
List 5 adjectives that describe what you see.
Tell a story about this person’s childhood, their earliest memory.
PC: go in to your photo folder and select an image of yourself, one where you are not posing for the camera.
List 5 adjectives that describe what you see.
Tell a story about this person’s childhood, their earliest memory.
Convergence
Open up your internet browser.
Sign into your most used email service.
Go to the oldest page and select a message from a name that rings the loudest bell.
Respond to your own email, relative to what you know today about how that message was received.
Google Earth
Find a place to rest. Go on vacation on google earth and write a postcard to a friend describing how you are spending your time.
Search for a secret
Do a google search for a secret you have. What are you told?
Write a short goodbye note to your secret. Delete it.
Write a welcome note to your future. Save it.
Empty the trash
Turn off your computer
Go outside and find a comfortable place to sit.
Write about the sky before you.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Ugly Dream, Yellow Tepid Water
by Rachel McIntire, Oakland, CA
April Something 2008
Guided by Amanda
Left
Straight to the left, right?
Correct in the misstep took
Taken away, left?
Continuous clack whine whiz cough sandwiched between
31
Anxiety and stress and all things that go with being a senior in May: transition & reflection
Simultaneously
Joy and fear, excitement and antipathy towards leaving a creating a future
Ugly dream, yellow tepid water searching through body parts, looking for glasses to prove life.
Half blue, half olive. Quietly with white sheets and a chalky room with Quaker like furniture, to sit upon.
Choices set at dusk
Seagulls part but sun won’t sent
Intersection seared
(Love,
Where have you gone?
I haven’t stopped looking for you.
I’ve just taken a rest by the river.
Any reassurance you could send in the
form of whispers and kisses would b
greatly appreciated, as you know,
courage can be a coward.
In love,
R)
Bringgggg
Brrringgggg
“hello butter?...”
“wawa waaa waa wahhh wahhh?”
“…..I’ve been in madness today and I am going to make food to bring me back to earth. Matzo and a fried egg….. yes yolk in the center…. surrender by the whites.
16
one
What was it that you dreamt about me that scared you so?
two
Will you tell me a true love sorry? Can you?
three
You really don’t want to know to find the missing links that even in their missing define you and therefore me?
April Something 2008
Guided by Amanda
Left
Straight to the left, right?
Correct in the misstep took
Taken away, left?
Continuous clack whine whiz cough sandwiched between
31
Anxiety and stress and all things that go with being a senior in May: transition & reflection
Simultaneously
Joy and fear, excitement and antipathy towards leaving a creating a future
Ugly dream, yellow tepid water searching through body parts, looking for glasses to prove life.
Half blue, half olive. Quietly with white sheets and a chalky room with Quaker like furniture, to sit upon.
Choices set at dusk
Seagulls part but sun won’t sent
Intersection seared
(Love,
Where have you gone?
I haven’t stopped looking for you.
I’ve just taken a rest by the river.
Any reassurance you could send in the
form of whispers and kisses would b
greatly appreciated, as you know,
courage can be a coward.
In love,
R)
Bringgggg
Brrringgggg
“hello butter?...”
“wawa waaa waa wahhh wahhh?”
“…..I’ve been in madness today and I am going to make food to bring me back to earth. Matzo and a fried egg….. yes yolk in the center…. surrender by the whites.
16
one
What was it that you dreamt about me that scared you so?
two
Will you tell me a true love sorry? Can you?
three
You really don’t want to know to find the missing links that even in their missing define you and therefore me?
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.
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.
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