{"id":60160,"date":"2017-03-20T02:04:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T06:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=60160"},"modified":"2017-04-01T18:12:26","modified_gmt":"2017-04-01T22:12:26","slug":"enters-brains-back-door-make-creative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2017\/03\/20\/enters-brains-back-door-make-creative\/","title":{"rendered":"This Enters Through the Brain’s Back Door To Make You More Creative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our reason for mixing poetry into articles about very practical things is done with fierce intention: Poetry enters through our brain’s back door and shakes things up. We find that it helps greatly in envisioning possibilities by working in\u00a0other l<\/em>ess linear languages, helping us make unexpected connections, as well as making us attuned to our surroundings.<\/p>\n

It’s why for every morning for the last five years we’ve spent a few minutes\u00a0on the phone with a dear friend, while he reads us a poem or we read him one, since he first told us that of his unique, simple practice<\/a>. It starts our brains off with a way wider view than checking our cell-phones offers. Like this astonishing poem about poetry by Rilke:<\/p>\n

\n

Breathing: you invisible poem! Complete<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

interchange of our own<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

essence with world-space. You counterweight<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

in which I rhythmically happen.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Single wave-motion whose<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

gradual sea I am:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

you, most inclusive of all our possible seas-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

space has grown warm.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How many regions in space have already been<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

inside me. There are winds that seem like<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

my wandering son.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you recognize me, air, full of places I once absorbed?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You who were the smooth bark,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

roundness, and leaf of my words.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’re so taken with poetry, that\u00a0we use\u00a0it for gentle guerrilla actions (which it is, unto itself). Here are some favorites:<\/p>\n

Poem in your Pocket<\/strong>: Select a poem you love, carry it with you, then share it with family, friends, coworkers, random people you pass. If you have time or energy, you can print out copies to give to people you meet or leave on park benches, bank or post office desks, bus seats…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chalk a poem on a wall or sidewalk:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gong Strikes by Miriam Sagan; photo by Hannah M<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The little girls
\nRunning in the park at dusk
\nAre almost women now\u2014
\nWhat you\u2019ve missed…<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What could be better than finding Kerouac scrawled on the sidewalk?<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
goodnessgraceandgrub.wordpress.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, you can just take a photo of some poetic writing\u00a0with your phone and text it to friends, as we did with this bit from Invisible Cities<\/a><\/em> by Italo Calvino:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or send a link to a dazzling poem, as a friend did to us last week, introducing us to Wis\u0142awa Szymborska, a poet we didn’t know, with A Speech at the Lost and Found<\/a>\u00a0(in response to our article about loss<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I lost a few goddesses while moving south to north,<\/em><\/strong>
\nand also some gods while moving east to west.<\/em><\/strong>
\nI let several stars go out for good, they can\u2019t be traced.<\/em><\/strong>
\nAn island or two sank on me, they\u2019re lost at sea.<\/em><\/strong>
\nI\u2019m not even sure exactly where I left my claws,<\/em><\/strong>
\nwho\u2019s got my fur coat, who\u2019s living in my shell.<\/em><\/strong>
\nMy siblings died the day I left for dry land<\/em><\/strong>
\nand only one small bone recalls that anniversary in me.<\/em><\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve shed my skin, squandered vertebrae and legs,<\/em><\/strong>
\ntaken leave of my senses time and again.<\/em><\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve long since closed my third eye to all that,<\/em><\/strong>
\nwashed my fins of it and shrugged my branches.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gone, lost, scattered to the four winds. It still surprises me<\/em><\/strong>
\nhow little now remains, one first person sing, temporarily<\/em><\/strong>
\ndeclined in human form, just now making such a fuss<\/em><\/strong>
\nabout a blue umbrella left yesterday on a bus.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’ve never forgotten the pages of anonymous, hand-forged poetry we found pasted to a construction site partition…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was very mysterious….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clearly someone had gone to a lot of thought and work to make something so ephemeral; it was vulnerable to the weather and vandals and would be torn down with the wall…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…but it changed our feeling about that day, and has stayed with us as a vivid memory…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…a poem….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We tend to find our poems by opening books at random. But if you’re reading digitally, here are a 100 trails you can follow.<\/a>..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our reason for mixing poetry into articles about very practical matters is done with fierce intention: Poetry enters through our brain’s back door and shakes things up. We find that it helps greatly in envisioning possibilities…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":60211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6549,6329],"tags":[6974,10498,10501,342,5900,122,10500,8617,5060,8179,10425,10499],"yoast_head":"\nThis Enters Through the Brain's Back Door To Make You More Creative - Improvised Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our reason for mixing poetry into articles about very practical matters is done with fierce intention: Poetry enters through our brain's back door and shakes things up. 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