SECTION NINE
sm
COLUMN
SEVENTY-THREE, JULY 1, 2002
(Copyright © 2002 The Blacklisted Journalist)
COME STUDY POETRY!
Come study poetry at The
Temple in Walla Walla. There is a loft apartment/communal space of 4500 square
feet on the second floor of The Temple building, originally built in 1905 as a
Masonic Temple. The space has in former times been the banquet and dressing room
facilities for the Free & Affiliated Masons, a dance studio, a karate dojo,
and an apartment for college students. It has a large kitchen, a bathroom, a
shower, several semi-private bedrooms, and ample space for all manner of
presentations by poets.
The 1997 Walla Walla
Poetry Party was held in The Temple and The
Temple magazine was organized and distributed from the premises.
The old banquet room
itself, 46 by 25 with a nearly 20 foot high tin type ceiling, has potential for
small dramatic productions (The Flying Fox Puppet Theatre used to produce their
dramas in the space in The Temple building formerly known as Club Minivan),
performance art, poetry readings, musical productions, dances. Vicki Lloid
choreographed several poems which were presented in the adjacent Dance Center.
The Underground, in the building at 36 South Colville Street, has musical and
literary events plus a pool hall and gathering place for the city's youth. The
Temple Bookstore will be next door at 40 S Colville.
The Temple is located at
129 E. Alder on the corner of Colville and Alder in downtown Walla Walla. In the
neighborhood are many caf's, thrift stores, the public library, a nearby
Safeway, banks, insurance and realty companies. A full service post office is
four blocks away. Whitman College, with a student center, library, and social
life including a writing house, is only a few blocks away. WW is also home to a
fine community college and in nearby College Place, WW College. The colleges
have frequent visiting poets and writers whom the poets are expected to listen
to for examples and as subject matter for discussion and interpretation. WW is
ranked as the 62nd best little town in America for art. Could you be
the poet who moves it up to 59th"
Fall
Zone, the first trimester:
klipschutz of San
Francisco will be the first visiting poet and his reading will launch the grand
opening of The Temple School of Poetry on September 7th. klipschutz
and Charles Potts will be reading at Bumbershoot in Seattle, held Labor Day
weekend, from August 30th to September 2nd. Student poets
are encouraged to attend Bumbershoot for what they can learn about poetry and
the other arts. September 1st will be the publication date for
klipschutz? Twilight of the Male Ego,
published by Tsunami Inc.
Charles Potts will offer
a full day of instruction in Seize the Spirit, the Neuro Linguistic Programming
application of the imagination for achieving dynamic balance, during the month
of October.
Other visiting poets in
November and December of 2002, will include Teri Zipf of WW, whose Tsunami Inc.
book, Outside the School of Theology,
won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association William Stafford Memorial
Award in 1998, and Jim Bodeen, author of This
House: A Poem in Seven Books, described by Ray Gonzalez in The
Bloomsbury Review as "As much a prophecy as Leaves
of Grass." Bodeen is famous for his work with Spanish and bi-lingual
Hispanic students.
Each student will be
entitled to at least one hour a week of one-on-one face-to-face instruction and
counsel from Charles Potts who will as well deliver a once-a-week group lecture
on some aspect of modern poetry, that is anything written by people since the
beginning of the Holocene. Much poetry occurs in drama and prose, both fiction
and non-fiction, but no specific instruction in the formal or informal
application of these methods will be offered.
Tuition will include a
complete set of The Temple magazines,
twenty issues published between 1997 and 2001, from which examples of how poetry
may be written exude. The school will have a lending and circulating library of
poetry books, current and past periodicals, and various other works in the four
"P? categories, poetry, psychology, philosophy and politics as well as an
operating a bookstore in the building.
Tuition will also include
instruction in Yoga by Andrew Glass, who recently returned from four months of
training in India.
An
Invitation to Apply
Serious young poets of
majority age, over eighteen, are encouraged to apply for the first of three
four-month residencies annually. Trimester tuition will include housing, the
basic utilities, heat, hot water, and electricity; instruction in poetry, Yoga,
and NLP, plus access to a variety of visiting poets. Student poets are expected
to bring their own computers and writing utensils and to feed themselves in the
communal kitchen somewhat in the manner of a nuclear family, taking turns
cooking and cleaning up, shopping and preparing healthy meals. There is a gas
range, large refrigerator, and ample cupboard and shelf space in the kitchen.
The capacity to share, develop and grow will be a major asset.
Potential students should
send a resume with a manuscript sample of no more than ten legible computer or
typescript pages along with an application form available on request from
Tsunami Inc., one of the sponsors of the school. We are most interested in
creative originality with a spiritual edge and will accept applicants based on
belief in their capacity to create enduring original work that will move other
people in the specific and general manner of great literature through the ages.
It is not necessary to have published any poetry to apply, but samples of
published work may accompany the application.
Applications should
include a brief (200-500 words approximately) statement of what you expect to
accomplish as a poet and by attending The Temple school. Include also a brief
list of the poets whose work moves you and another list of what you are
currently reading, poetry and otherwise. A brief statement of your experience
and expectations in the realm of communal living will help us gauge your
suitability for the environment. Please include two letters of recommendation
from poets, other writers, college professors, high school teachers, or clerics
vouching for your creativity and character. Applications will be evaluated on a
first come, first serve basis and the informal rule, first qualified"first
accepted will apply. We have room for only a half dozen poets. Experience
working in bookstores or designing or attending to websites with fluency in HTML
is a plus. There can only be one first year so get your application in pronto.
Provisionally accepted
poets who have never been in WW are strongly encouraged to visit WW prior to a
final decision from both school and poet. Accepted poets with "no particular
place to go? as Chuck Berry once put it are welcome to arrive early (anytime
after July 10th).
Housekeeping
Dorm facilities will
include mattresses and bookshelves so a poet could function if they showed up
with nothing more than a sleeping bag and a back pack with a toothbrush and
other personal items of clothing. More elaborate arrangements can be made by
individuals as means and needs dictate. The Temple is a private facility and is
accessible only by a wide staircase.
Students are expected to
organize and produce their own poetry readings in conjunction with others. Much
of the learning will take place in the give and take between and among poets. A Temple-like
newsprint anthology of poems, selected and edited by the students, will be
published at least annually as a permanent record of some aspect of their
progress while in situ. Publication in periodicals will be encouraged with
sample copies of active magazines available.
Students may want to seek
employment in the day or night time in WW and are encouraged to volunteer in the
community, schools, day cares, and social service organizations.
Potential students with
felony convictions, controlled substance abuse, or other major behavioral
problems are encouraged to overcome these limitations substantially prior to
applying. WW is a small and fairly conservative town and is not a conducive
atmosphere in which to work out drug abuse issues and anti- social behavioral
predilections. Poets still addicted to nicotine and smoking tobacco are
encouraged to discard the addiction before applying, as The Temple School is a
smoke free zone.
We have applied for
non-profit 501(c) (3) status from the IRS so poets with money to invest in a tax
deductible manner who may not be able to participate in person can make their
valuable presence in the community felt and known. Consider sponsoring a poet
for a trimester if you have the means and the heart to invest in poetry.
Trimester Tuition: $2,408
Deposit due upon acceptance: $1,003
No refunds after August 10th.
Request an application now and get a free downloaded copy of The Anarchist's Rule Book with suggestions for communal living. ##
CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX OF COLUMN SEVENTY-THREE
CLICK HERE TO GET TO INDEX
OF COLUMNS
The
Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted at P.O.Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964
The Blacklisted Journalist's E-Mail Address:
info@blacklistedjournalist.com
THE BLACKLISTED JOURNALIST IS A SERVICE MARK OF AL ARONOWITZ