Plant Whispering with Jade Cuttle

Contact: administration@poetryschool.com or go to https://poetryschool.com/courses/plant-whispering-a-ginkgo-prize-workshop-for-national-writing-day/

Investigate the fruitful crossover of poetry and plants in this free Ginkgo Prize workshop to celebrate National Writing Day

“Poetic knowledge is born in the silence of scientific knowledge […] To put it another way, poetry is a blossoming” (Aimé Césaire).

In this workshop, investigating the fruitful crossover between poetry and plants, we’ll step into the shoes of the plant-whisperer, unravelling the possibility of a poetic parallel universe. From Norse Mythology where man and woman were made from two trees, to Greek legend where Daphne escapes Apollo by turning into a tree, the intimate relation between humans and creatures of the plant world have been inspiring creative minds for centuries. Embracing a notion of place as porous and relational, we’ll explore an extended sense of self as it buffers against these surroundings. We’ll focus on contemporary work by Alice Oswald, Alison Brackenbury, David Morley, Louise Gluck and address some critical ideas. As part of the writing prompts, we’ll use a unique scientific instrument able to perceive the electromagnetic variations from the surface of plant leaves to the root system and translate them into music. This workshop will spark an exciting new level of discussion about the consciousness of nature.and decompose modes of writing.

Entry: Free!

Time: 10:30am (Wednesday 26 June, 10:30am–1:00pm.)