collaborative poetry workshop ®k±blÏha¡ ljÑn¡m¡ kolkata, jan 3, 2009 pat clifford, aryanil...

Collaborative Poetry Workshop

®k±bLÏha¡ LjÑn¡m¡ Kolkata, Jan 3, 2009

Pat Clifford, Aryanil Mukherjee & future contributors

LÒf (Coll-Po)? e¡ÏL LÒfe¡ ? What is Coll-Po ?

What is collaborative poetry ?

L¡®L hmÏR "®k±bLÏha¡' ?How old or new is it ?

La ea¤e ? La f¤l®e¡ ?How much collaborative poetry exists ?

LaV¡ ®k±bLÏha¡l Lb¡ Bjl¡ S¡Ïe ?The need for collaborative poetry

®L¡e fË®u¡Se ®b®L ®k±bLÏha¡ ?Is collaborative poetry “co-operative poetry” ?

"®k±bLÏha¡' ÏL "pjh¡u£ LÏha¡' ?

Japanese Coll-Po :: RENGA / ®lÂ¡

S¡f¡®el ®qCu¡e l¡S®aÄ (794-1185) fËbj "®lÂ¡' ®mM¡ quz HL¡ÏdL LÏhl ®mM¡ ÏnLm-Rœ (p¡d¡lea 36 R®œ ®no) ®kM¡®e fË®aÉL LÏh c¤-Rœ ÏmM®aez HC Rœ®L S¡f¡e£ i¡o¡u "L¤' h®mz q¡CL¤ MÉ¡a ®p¡ÏS J h¡®n¡ "®lÂ¡' Ïm®M®Rez ®lÂ¡ fËLªÏadj£Ñ LÏha¡z "L¡®pe' HL dl®Zl SeÏfËu ®lÂ¡ ®kM¡®e Ïeuj¡e¤haÑ®e fËÏa c¤ R®œ ÏWL c¤-h¡l ®L¡e g¤®ml fËpÂ J ÏWL Ïaeh¡l Qy¡®cl fËpÂ B®pz B®S¡ S¡f¡®e ®lÂ¡ ®mM¡ quz fÏÕQ®jJz Renga comes from Japan and is the earliest form of collaborative poetry known to us. It probably originated in the Heian period (794-1185). Famous haikuists Soji and Basho wrote Renga’s. A Renga is written in two stanzas (ku) usually upto a chain of 36 stanzas by several poets. Kasen is a popular form – nature poems where in each section a flower gets mentioned exactly twice and the moon thrice. Renga’s are still written in Japan today and also in the West.

The largest collection of English-language renga is Werner Reichhold's online book - Symbiotic Poetry

waka / Ju¡L¡

Ju¡L¡-l S¾j ®lÂ¡l k¤®NCz S¡f¡Ïe LÏh®cl ®mM¡ ÏQ®e LÏha¡ "L¡eÚÏn'-l ®b®L S¡f¡Ïel¡ Ïe®S®cl ®k±bLÏha¡®L Bm¡c¡ Ll®a HC e¡jLlZ L®lz Q¡l lL®jl Ju¡L¡l Lb¡ ®n¡e¡ k¡u - a¡ˆ¡ (®R¡V LÏha¡), ®Q¡L¡ (c£OÑ LÏha¡), ®p®c¡L¡ (j¡b¡-®O¡l¡®e¡ LÏha¡) J L¡a¡Ea¡ (V¤L®l¡ LÏha¡)z Ju¡L¡ LÏha¡u R¾cq£e, fwÏš²q£ez h¡LÉhå ÏeiÑlz Ïhn na®Ll HLSe E®õM®k¡NÉ S¡f¡Ïe LÏh j¡p¡JL¡ ÏnÏL a¡ˆ¡ Ïe®u A®eL L¡S L®l®Rez

Waka developed in the Renga era. It was used to identify Japanese coll-po from the Chinese kanshi some Japanese poets wrote. Usually of 4 types – tanka (short poem), choka (long poem), sedoka (head-spinning poem) and katauta (fragment poem). Waka poems have no rhyme/rhythm/lines. It is phrase-based. In the 20th century, Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki worked on the tanka extensively.

The First Western Renga

4 Western poets met in Paris in the spring of 1969 with a goal to write the “First Western Renga”. Edoardo Sanguineti (Italy), Octavio Paz (Mexico), Charles Tomlinson (British) and Jacques Rouboud (France)

French Coll-Po ::Ralentir Travaux(Slow Under Construction)

Over a period of 5 days in 1930 several collaborative poems were written by André Breton, Paul Éluard and René Char. These are great examples of pure surrealist poetry. These poems were translated in the 1990s into English by Keith Waldrop (Slow Under Construction)

Canadian Collaborative Poetry

Many examples. Notable sonnet Renga recently written by P.K.Page and Phillip Stratford – And Once More Saw The Stars (2001).

L¡e¡X¡u ®k±bLÏha¡ ®mM¡ q®µR hýÏcez HLÏV p¡ÇfËÏaL L¡hÉNË¾b p®e®Vl p®Â ®lÂ¡®L ÏjÏm®u ®mM¡ q®u®Rz hC®ul e¡j - AÉ¡ä Ju¡¾p ®j¡l p cÉ ØV¡pÑ (2001)z Ïf ®L ®fS J ÏgÏmf ØVÌÉ¡V®g¡®XÑl ®mM¡z

Collaborative Poetry in North America

Denise Duhamel and Maureen Seaton have been writing poetry together since 1991. Published three collaborative books: Little Novels (Pearl Editions, 2002), Oyl (2000), and Exquisite Politics (1997). In 1940's, American poet Charles Henri Ford invented the "chain poem", where each poet writes a line and then forwards the poem to another person across the world by post. The poem goes around the world. May be not in 80 days.Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry (2007). Edited by Denise Duhamel, Maureen Seaton and David Trinidad - 140 poems by more than 200 poets.

Ten Commandments for a successful collaborative experience

Denise Duhamel/ Maureen SeatonThou shalt trust thy collaborator's art with thy whole heart.Thou shalt trust thy collaborator's judgment with thy whole mind.Thou shalt trust thy collaborator's integrity with thy whole spirit.Honor thy own voice. Honor thy collaborator's spouse. Thou shalt not be an egotistical asshole. Thou shalt not covet all the glory. Thou shalt love the same foods as your collaborator. Thou shalt eat and tire at the same time.Above all, honor the muse.

Collaborative Projects from the past

Kenneth Koch and Allen Ginsberg read collaborative poetry at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church (NYC) in the 1960s.

Two New York school poets John Ashbery and James Schuyler wrote a comic fiction – A Nest of Ninnies (1969)

Recent WorksInterwriting & pleasureTEXTpossession (1999-2002)

– Maria Damon & mIEKAL And

Snow Sensitive Skin (2007) – Taylor Brady & Rob Halpern

Figures for a Darkroom Voice (2006) – Noah Eli Gordon & Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Nice Hat. Thanks (2002) – Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer

Project “Interwriting”they dance. Filtration of light between

falling leaves, failing oaksmell autumn nostalgia. Looking

up momentarily, this is where we meet briefly

inside of a dozen curious haiku.

No words for worldly. Flirtation of

light with leaf, of leaf with bird,

bird with snow, and we nestle in the dingy

café where the predatory track us down. Limber she dreamt, bumble he wept in

keeping with tradition.

-Interaction-Intercourse-Intertext-Interwriting

Literature Nation - a text interweaving project between mIEKAL AND and Maria Damon

Web presence -http://cla.umn.edu/joglars/pleasuretext/portalgrid.html

Language Poetry

Historic, social, experimental and critical

An avant garde

70’s and 80’s. (It’s over.)

Bruce Andrews, Barrett Watten, Carla Harryman, Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Rae Armantrout, Charles Bernstein and more

San Francisco and New York based

Language Multi-Authorship

Political Action: “Revolutionary moment calls for multi-authored discourse”

Focus attention on the Subject

Legend – Bernstein, McCaffery, Andrews, Silliman, DiPalma

The Wide Road – Harryman and Hejinian

The Grand Piano – Collective Autobiography

Legend – Collaborative Experiment

Twenty-five one, two and three authored sections

Five single authored sections

Final section with five authors

Silliman: “1. It is a five-pointed star…”

Andrews: “100. This is social work”

Section 9: Andrews and Silliman Intra-lingualTranslation

ASDA Poetry Factory

“ASDA” is an Arabic word. It means “echoes”. fËÏadÄÏez This is a poetry magazine from contemporary Iraq where they publish a collaborative poetry forum. ®pC ®g¡l¡®jl e¡j - LÏha¡ L¡lM¡e¡z BlÏh i¡o¡l L¡NSz ÏWL ÏLi¡®h HM¡®e ®k±bLÏha¡ ®mM¡ q®u®R Bj¡®cl AS¡e¡z Cl¡Lk¤®Ül g®m L¡NSÏV HMe AÏeuÏjaz

Collaborative Poetry in Australia

Wheatlands (2000) – by Dorothy Hewett and John Kinsella . Themed on the landscape, people, history, myths and the experience of living in Western Australia. Written in prose, poetry and photographs.

A Strange Collaboration

farout_library_software – A book of collaborative poems by Maged Zaher and Pam Brown.

Maged sent Pam a submission to Jacket Magazine, of which Pam is associate editor. But Maged forgot to enclose the poem. In an effort to atone, Maged proposed a collaboration between them; this collaboration was to last for a year and a half and comprise the poems published in this chapbook. The collaboration is seamless; even Pam attests she could no longer tell whose writing was whose as she proof-read. Among the poems' subjects: change, constant change of jobs, friends, cities, and of course the software with which we mark time's passing.

Source : TinFish Press

Collaborative Poetry : EnglandFIT TO PRINT is a book of collaborative poems by British poet Alan Halsey and Canadian poet Karen MacCormack. These are languaged poems inspired by newspaper material.

The book can be found online -http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/fit_to_print/contents.html

h¡wm¡l pjh¡u£ LÏha¡Co-operative Poetry in India (Bengali)

S¡e¤u¡¢ll i¡he¡ - Thoughts of January (1995) – by Samir Roychowdhury & Santanu Bandyopadhyay based on the mystery of number 14 and other thoughts triggered by any word

j¡c m mM¡ L¢ha¡ - Poems written in Madol (24-25 July-2004) – A Kabitapakshik Writer’s workshop – Based on interactions during two days stay together. contributors: Prabhat Chowdhury Naser Hossain Amitava Maitra Shubhasis Gangopadhyay Gouranga Mitra Rudra Kingshuk Rimi De Pinaki Samanta Pradip Chakraborty Satyasadhan Chael Indrani Duttapanna Snehasis Mukhopadhyay Swarup Chakraborty Timirkanti Barun Sarkar Anupam Mukhopadhyay Soumitra Roy

contributed by : Santanu Bandopadhyay


pjh¡u£ L¢ha¡ - Co-operative Poetry Collection (2004) by Rudra Kingshuk & Kamalika Mitra

pjh¡u£ L¢ha¡ - Co-operative Poetry (2005) by Rudra Kingshuk & Shubhasis Gangopadhyay

L¢ha¡ f¡¢rL – Kabita Pakshik Journal (2004-2005) – paired poems

contributed by : Santanu Bandopadhyay


h¡wm¡ i¡o¡u L¢ha¡l L¡S fËL«a A bÑ j‰mL¡ hÉCz djÑj‰m, jep¡j‰m, Qä£j‰m fËi«¢alQe¡…¢mz k¢cJ Hl A eL¡w n fcLaÑ¡ cl e¡j f¡Ju¡ k¡u ah¤ N¡V¡ L¡ hÉl hý AwnC ¢h¢iæ L¢hl ¢j¢mai¡ h lQe¡ z HC d¡l¡ ¢LR¥ Awn QkÑ¡fc-H cM¡ N mJ j‰mL¡hÉ…¢ml j a¡ a¡ Ha Ja fË¡a euz The “Mangal Kabya” [Blissful Poetry] represents a complete collection of a genre of narrative early Bengali poetry that reflected social changes and emerging ethical frameworks in pre-colonial Bengal. Many parts of these poems that are part of a larger series are written collaboratively. Traces of collaborative writing can be found in even earlier texts, like the Charyapadas [earliest available samples of Bengali lyrical poetry (Buddhist), 1100 AD].

contributed by Santanu Bandopadhyay


pjh¡u£ L¢ha¡ lQe¡ fËp ‰ Aø¡cn - Ee¢hwn na¡ë£l h¡wm¡ L¢hu¡m cl Lb¡J E õM Ll¡ k a f¡ lz j¤MÉ N¡uL HLSe q mJ, L¢hu¡m cl c m HL¡¢dL fcLaÑ¡ b¡L ae k¡l¡ k±bi¡ h j¤MÉ N¡ u el SeÉ L¢hN¡e lQe¡ Ll aezMusical/Poetic Duels (kabir larhaai) were popular in Bengal in the 19th century. These poet/singers had bands and were patronized by Bengali aristrocrats. The shows were held in public. These bands contained multiple lyricists who would compose collaboratively in both impromptu and pre-meditative modes.

50 - 60 Hl cn L k±b L¢ha¡NË¿Û fËL¡¢na q u R a h p…¢ml pjh¡u£ üi¡h aaV¡ fËLV euz Ec¡qlZ ül©f pçcn AnÄ¡ l¡q£ 70 cn Ll 17 Se L¢hl HLœ k¡fefÜ¢al L¢ha¡zSome loosely collaborative collections of Bengali poetry came out in the 1950-60s. One important exception was Saptadash Ashbaarohee (17 Equestrians) – A collection of “lifestyle poems” by 17 young poets of Bengal.

contributed by Santanu Bandopadhyay

Multilingual/Multicultural Collaborative Poetry

hýi¡ÏoL/hýp¡w×LªÏaL ®k±b LÏha¡

Airborn – Octavio Paz & Charles Tomlinson (Spanish/English)George Oppen – Buddhadeb Bose translative collaboration (Bengali/English)Recent collaborations between two poetry magazines from Brazil and Vietnam led to a common collaborative poetry issue in Portugese and Vietnamese.

George Oppen, Buddhadeva Bose and Transcreation

SSÑ A®fe, h¤Ü®ch hp¤ J Ae¤pªSe

Buddhadeb BoseWell known, editor of Kabita (1935-61)

Poetry is “conceived in the soul”

George OppenObjectivist Poet, Pulitzer Prize (1969)

Poetry “confident in itself and in its materials”

SimilaritiesPolitics were inescapable

Distrustful of a “furious and bitter bohemia”



New York - 1961Bose teaching at Brooklyn College

Oppen returned from exile in Mexico, has not published since blacklist

Translation ExerciseBose: Sceptical of translation, help with To Memory and Still Life

Oppen: Transcreations appear in Oppen’s first book, The Materials



Oppen’s MethodsHeavy emphasis on source texts: cutting layering and quotationMichael Davidson: “Palim-texts” – work always in process“Daybooks” – constructedEthical concerns, interpersonal tone

Airborn / Hijos del Airo

In 1979 the Mexican poet Octavio Paz and his English fellow poet and translator Charles Tomlinson wrote a series of bilingual sonnets -'Airborn'

As Charles Tomlinson writes, 'These collaborative poems were the result of a meeting, early one summer in Gloucestershire, when, out of the many words we had thought and spoken, we chose "house" and "day" as the words for a future postal meditation in sonnet form.'

Qa¤l¡ÏÂL/SQUARES by Pat Clifford /

BkÑe£m j¤®M¡f¡dÉ¡uTranscontinental, bilingual collaborative poetry

Inspired by Ray film Shatranj Ke Khilari and chess game format

First three sections alternate block shaped stanzas

Last section interweaves text

Issues of translation, problems with multi-lingual revision

Artwork by Mithu Sen

Conceptual levels of text collaborationÏmÏfh¤e®el fk¡Ñu

Line level – two poets write the same line

fwÏš²fk¡Ñu - HLC fwÏš² c¤Se ÏmM®mez qu BdM¡e¡ L®lz eu ®k±bi¡®hz h¡ HLS®el j§m fwÏš² AeÉSe hcm¡®mezSentence level – a sentence is broken into two or more lines. Each poet writes a part/line to make one complete sentence.

h¡LÉfk¡Ñu - HLV¡ pÇf§ZÑ h¡LÉ c¤C h¡ Ïae fwÏš²®a ®mM¡z fËbj fwÏš² HLSe ÏmM®mez Ïàa£u fwÏš² AeÉSezStanza level – Poets alternate with stanzas

Rœfk¡Ñu - LÏhl¡ R®œ R®œ c¡e Ïc®a f¡®lezPage level – Each poet writes a page. Difficult to anticipate page size unless the book size is predetermined.

fªù¡fk¡Ñu - HL HL fªù¡ HL HLSe ÏmM®hez HC dl®el h¤ee LÏWe ®Lee¡ H®r®œ fËL¡ÏnahÉ hC®ul j¡f®S¡L B®N ®b®L ÏWL L®l ®eJu¡ fË®u¡Sez k¡ p¡d¡lea Apñhz

collaborative poetry workshop ®k±blÏha¡ ljÑn¡m¡ kolkata, jan 3, 2009 pat clifford, aryanil...

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