Cueva de las Manos — Santa Cruz, Argentina, ca. 7300 BC
Like any writing, a poem has an imagined audience. But the poem that would last ten thousand years — who or what would encounter it? And what would they do with it, how process it? Would they have access to the languages we speak and the symbols with which we write?
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Cueva de las Manos — Santa Cruz, Argentina, ca. 7300 BC
In ten thousand years, poetry will be less a noun and more a verb. Its primary focus will be (simulated) immersion. Poetry will be pan-sensory. Maybe ESP. Perhaps not extrasensory perception, but extrasensory poetry. Poetry will be done to get in touch for sincerity’s sake because the self will be spread so thin.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Cueva de las Manos — Santa Cruz, Argentina, ca. 7300 BC
If I wrote a poem that I knew would last ten thousand years the ecstasy of communication might overtake the particulars of writing and poetry: it would mean writing from the place of resonance where masses suddenly agreed to dematerialize to make way for a web of life that makes legibility not only meaningful but possible. What is a poem and what is writing and what does it mean to last.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Cueva de las Manos — Santa Cruz, Argentina, ca. 7300 BC
The unpredictable expansiveness of poetry precludes any certainty when it comes to particular forms and contents. However, I suppose one can be certain that if there are humans then there will be poetry and it will continue to inhabit the edges of what is sayable and knowable, regardless of whatever repressive political or cultural forces may exist.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Cueva de las Manos — Santa Cruz, Argentina, ca. 7300 BC
Imagining a future, let alone poetry, ten thousand years from now requires thinking the afterward of our present crises. A worst-case scenario: planetary conditions in many thousands of years will no longer support organic life as we know it. But human consciousness will continue to operate, albeit as code on servers, not neurons firing across fatty gray matter. To imagine this future, one must think beyond bodies made of mostly water, blood, tissue, birth, and death.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
What will poetry be in ten thousand years? (5)
Lynn Keller
Like any writing, a poem has an imagined audience. But the poem that would last ten thousand years — who or what would encounter it? And what would they do with it, how process it? Would they have access to the languages we speak and the symbols with which we write?
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Lynn Keller:
What will poetry be in ten thousand years? (4)
Michael Sloane
In ten thousand years, poetry will be less a noun and more a verb. Its primary focus will be (simulated) immersion. Poetry will be pan-sensory. Maybe ESP. Perhaps not extrasensory perception, but extrasensory poetry. Poetry will be done to get in touch for sincerity’s sake because the self will be spread so thin.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Michael Sloane:
What will poetry be in ten thousand years? (3)
Jonathan Skinner
If I wrote a poem that I knew would last ten thousand years the ecstasy of communication might overtake the particulars of writing and poetry: it would mean writing from the place of resonance where masses suddenly agreed to dematerialize to make way for a web of life that makes legibility not only meaningful but possible. What is a poem and what is writing and what does it mean to last.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Jonathan Skinner:
What will poetry be in ten thousand years? (2)
Adam Dickinson
The unpredictable expansiveness of poetry precludes any certainty when it comes to particular forms and contents. However, I suppose one can be certain that if there are humans then there will be poetry and it will continue to inhabit the edges of what is sayable and knowable, regardless of whatever repressive political or cultural forces may exist.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
What will poetry be in ten thousand years? (1)
Angela Hume
Imagining a future, let alone poetry, ten thousand years from now requires thinking the afterward of our present crises. A worst-case scenario: planetary conditions in many thousands of years will no longer support organic life as we know it. But human consciousness will continue to operate, albeit as code on servers, not neurons firing across fatty gray matter. To imagine this future, one must think beyond bodies made of mostly water, blood, tissue, birth, and death.
Post-ecopoetics is a guide for thinking the longevity and durability of the poem in deep time. I have asked a number of poets and scholars to serve as additional guides by asking them to respond to the following questions: “What will poetry be in ten thousand years? If you wrote a poem that you knew would last ten thousand years, how would this impact your writing?”
Each of their responses will be posted as an individual commentary linked to this series.
Angela Hume: