Workshop for Blocked Poets
Last week, Luciano Iacobelli of Quattro Books held a workshop for blocked poets at the Toronto Reference Library. “We’re going to produce a lot of nonsense today,” Luciano announced. Out of the nonsense – he assured us – something would emerge. Luciano gave us permission to have fun. “Language is Plasticine; it’s Lego; it’s like sand in a sandbox,” he told us. He wanted us to get out of our usual way of approaching writing and be ready to experiment. He asked us to be aware of what we’re telling ourselves, even before we begin writing. What is our “editor-self” or “censor” saying? In order to quiet this censor, we have to give ourselves permission to write badly. Our first exercise began with a free write. The censor was not invited. We had to write whatever came into our heads and keep writing no matter what. Luciano coached us through several other writing exercises, including one that I found one particularly challenging. We had to pick a phrase from the writing