Catherine Wing is the author of two collections of poetry, Enter Invisible and Gin & Bleach. Her poems have been published in such journals as Poetry, The Nation, and Tin House. She teaches at Kent State University and with the NEOMFA, the nation’s only consortial program in Creative Writing.
Workshop
Lab Experiments With Language
The true method of knowledge is experiment. —William Blake
Using the incomparable Lynda Barry as our muse and spirit-guide, this class will investigate the imagination as it moves, plays, and operates in the realms of poetry and science. How does science inspire poetry and vice versa? How does metaphor create a scaffolding for both? And what is the role of emotion? The traditional divide between the Arts and Sciences is long out of date (beauty vs. truth, fiction vs. fact, emotion vs. reason) and due for a reboot. Our task will be to think about how these categories might be more alike than different, to cross-pollinate the ideas of distinct disciplines through language, and to communicate those perspectives in writing. Two parts science lab, three parts creative writing workshop: we will make poems out of Petoskey stones, sonnets from cell structures, and ballads from bladderworts. This workshop will aim to take advantage of Camp Michigania’s natural beauty, resources, and wildlife—bird and beach walks!—and filter everything we observe through writing. Experimentation and exploration will be encouraged.
