Poetics, Performance, & Personhood

We welcome guest co-host, Míša Hejná, to The Write Attention podcast to discuss poetics, performance, and personhood.

Míša Hejná writes and performs poetry in Aarhus, Denmark.  She is also a member of Aarhus Women Write. Her work is primarily meditative and focuses on existential questions by combining the textual, the visual, and the aural.

In Episode 5, Míša captivates us with her readings and shares her questions and insights about performing visual poetry (yes, visual poetry), defining voice and style with rules, and the line between art and therapy. 

 

Questions

1. (How) can visual poetry be performed for an audience?
2. When is writing(/painting) for therapy art and not "just" therapy?
3. (How) can visual poetry be performed for an audience? 
4. How do you navigate the relationship between voice and the written word during performance? (For example, I can think of when I listen to slam poets sometimes and how the voice can sometimes get in the way of the poem, has this happened to you and, if so, how do you navigate that disconnect?)

 

Show Notes

Míša's Reading

• A Seagull Shat on Me
• As You Lay Daying

1. Aarhus Women Write

2. Always Burning Storytelling Series

3. Aarhus International Literature Festival on June 18th

4. Poetic Forms mentioned

Bop: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/poetic-form-the-bop

Cascade: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/poetic-form-cascade-poem

Descourt: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/descort-poetic-form

Ballade: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ballade#:~:text=An%20Old%20French%20verse%20form,subsequent%20stanzas%20and%20the%20envoy.

Golden Shovels: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/92023/introduction-586e948ad9af8

5. Who Says?: Mastering Point of View in Fiction by Lisa Zeidner: https://www.amazon.com/Who-Says-Mastering-Point-Fiction/dp/0393356116#:~:text=%22Lisa%20Zeidner%27s%20Who%20Says%3F%20is,students%2C%20writers%20and%20readers.%22

6. Classical English Style by Ward Farnsworth:  http://classicalenglishstyle.com

7. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/house-of-leaves-mark-z-danielewski/1102466935

8. Long Division by Kiese Laymon: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Long-Division/Kiese-Laymon/9781982174828

9. Ergodic literature term (coined by Aspen J. Aarseth in Cybertext—Perspectives on Ergodic Literature): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergodic_literature 

10. Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/90894 

11. Sunbathing is Forbidden in the Graveyard by Jeannetta Craigwell-Graham in Indiana Review’s Winter Issue: https://indianareview.org/item/winter-2023-volume-44-number-2/

12. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624631/the-dangers-of-smoking-in-bed-by-mariana-enriquez/

13. Alice Walker’s journals: https://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Blossoms-Under-Fire-Journals/dp/1476773157/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?ots=1&tag=thneyo0f-20&linkCode=w50&_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

14. Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau: https://www.amazon.com/Exercises-Style-Raymond-Queneau/dp/0811207897