I’ve been taking a cool online poetry class from
Mark Olmsted, who studied with Allen Ginsberg (I mean, how cool is that?!?) Last
weeks’ lecture started off with a Ginsberg quote:
"Notice what you notice."
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| From Lynda Barry's Syllabus |
Now, thinking about this, it can be read in two
ways—like, do what you do, an instruction to just get on with it, to stop
trying too hard. But it’s also advice to pay attention to what catches your
attention. (But first, you have to learn how to pay attention. As in, Be
Attentive.)
This is a good thing to do whether you’re trying (but
not TOO hard) to write a poem, or draw the world, build a novel, or just go for
a walk. Actually, this is what the art of flaneur is all about. And here at
Kissing The Earth, we’re all about the art of flaneur…
On a slightly different but very connected note, I
continue my ongoing exploration of what lies behind the need, the desire to
make things. I’ve just finished working* my way through Lynda Barry’s Syllabus,
which could be thought of as a manual for learning to be present, for noticing
what you notice. (*I say working, but it felt more like playing—it was hugely fun
and enlightening—enlightening as in a new sense of lightness, a feeling of buoyancy
with my approach to drawing and writing.)
The slim volume is full of ideas, questions,
assignments, exercises and quotes by famous people who had something to say
about the arts.
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| From Lynda Barry's Syllabus |
One of the quotes I especially liked is from
someone named Milner, who said: “Instead of trying to force myself into doing
what I imagined I ought to be doing, I began to inquire into what I was
doing.”
Kind of like noticing what you notice.
Another often quoted person is psychiatrist, writer
and literary scholar Iain McGlichrist. One of his ponderings is: “The arts, I
believe, have a pivotal role in putting us in touch with the transcendent, with
whatever it is that is beyond us. They are core to a civilization, measures of
our health, and should be treated as such.” And “Art brings into being a truth
about the world that was not there before.”
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| From Lynda Barry's Syllabus |
Barry built the book from her three years of
keeping notes, drawings and sullabi, teaching art at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and specifically for a class she called The Unthinkable Mind,
which had keeping a journal at its foundation. She tells her students to think
of a journal as a place not a thing.
A place to doodle, a place to experiment, a place
to relax and record and notice what you notice.
To tell the truth, I've always hated journaling, but this is different. I've actually been having a great time and may just stick with it for a while!
Do you keep a journal? If so, I'd love to hear about your process. Is it legible? Beautiful? Do you go back and read what you've written? Do tell...
Take Good Care,
Sharry
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