write a poem 12

Read the information at the following link about this fascinating poetry project.
Read through the PDF that I scanned from The Capilano Review (Vancouver, BC) that features the Shanzhai Lyric project.

Here are some ideas that I found, about the definition of the word “lyric”

Though it originally referred to verse that was accompanied by a lyre or other musical instrument, the term ‘lyric’ now denotes poetry that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet (or their persona) at a particular moment in time. From the Romantic era onwards, the lyric has been seen as the ideal vehicle for examining the nature of conscious experience and ideas about the self, and its pre-eminence has meant that we sometimes forget it is just one poetic genre amongst others, and see it as more or less synonymous with poetry itself.

Consequently, poetry, more than any other literary form, tends to be seen as ‘self-expression’. But what exactly are we expressing when we express our ‘selves’? Naturally, we all assume that we have a ‘self’ and that our self is what makes us what we are. But what if there were no self – if the self were just a kind of illusion or a notion that we have invented to make sense of an otherwise bewildering and incoherent mass of impressions? How might this affect the theory and practice of poetry? What happens when we take the ‘I’ out of lyric?

With these things in mind, and also being mindful of the word “Shanzhai” — “Bootleg” (pirated) — you’ll be writing your own “found” poems this week. Here are the parameters:

You must use SOME LANGUAGE from your assigned poet, at least ONE LINE from their work.
You must use SOME LANGUAGE that you find in a completely different, “non-literary” source (fashion magazine, science book, newspaper, statistics textbook, chemistry book, a book on textiles)
You must use SOME LANGUAGE that you yourself have written so far in this class, in the original creative writing assignments.
Your poem must be a minimum of 20 lines long!!
See this assignment as a collage.
How will you put it together? What happens when you do? What leaps and associations occur that are delightful, interesting or surprising? Come to class next week prepared to discuss your work and your process.

Here’s the Link

https://walkerart.org/magazine/bootlegging-shanzhai-lyric

https://poets.org/glossary/found-poem