5.+Creative,+Beat-Style+Response+to+Abstract+Imagism

//"Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement"// - Jackson Pollock

1. Free your mind from outside distractions; close out of any extraneous windows or computer applications.
===2. Click on the "Discussion" tab and create a new post. Label the post with your name, followed by the corresponding number of each painting [1, 2, etc.]. Create a new post for each painting you respond to.===

4. With the Beat-style of writing in the back of your mind, examine each painting that Mr. Murphy introduces to you.
===5. Take 5 minutes for each painting, and create a short poem between 5 and 15 lines (you may also write a Haiku). The poems may reflect the abstract nature of each painting, but also echo the unpredictable condition of jazz music and the free-flowing conscience of the Beat writers. Remember that your Beat poetry can take whatever form you desire; the Beat writers, just like these abstract painters, followed no formal rules by which to create their art. Therefore, feel free to express yourself and interpret the artwork in whatever way that you feel is appropriate.===

*If you are still having trouble, you could try answering some of the following central questions to help jump-start your imagination:

 * =====What is this a painting of? (hint: don't say "nothing" unless you are one-hundred percent certain that's it's a painting of nothing).=====
 * =====Is/are there emotion(s) or idea(s) being expressed in the painting? How, specifically, are you able to identify these emotions or ideas? Is it the colors? The brushstrokes? The lines?=====
 * =====What does the painting make you think of? How does it make you feel when you look at it?=====
 * After a few moments pondering the painting, are there some themes that emerge?
 * How can you weave the fleeting elements of these themes into a short piece of poetry that could be used to describe the painting?

=
Of course, your answers to these questions will not end up being the final product of your poem. Indeed, your poem, in the style of the Beats, can be anything and everything you want it to be. It might be short, succinct, unpredictable or unapologetic. It can be a an abbreviated journal entry, a love letter or a song verse. All you have to do is process what you see into what you feel, and then what you feel into words. Those few words should be able to express the larger idea: the painting itself.=====

Please note the example "poetic response" that I have provided here.
1985 - Oil on Canvas//**
 * //Laredo Lady, By: Norman Bluhm

Just before dying, our symmetry scampers down ```````````````````off of ```````````````````````the table and _under the stairs.

It whimpers and weeps in the darkness

between

what is and what could have been.

media type="file" key="02 Cryin' Blues.mp3" width="237" height="28"

media type="file" key="07 The Theme.mp3" width="237" height="28"

media type="file" key="03 Blue in Green.m4a" width="237" height="28"

Painting #1. //**Woman I, By: Willem de Kooning 1950 - 1952 - Oil on Canvas**//

Painting #2 //**The Gate, By: Hans Hoffman 1959-1960 - Oil on Canvas**//

Painting #3

//** Blue Poles II, By: Jackson Pollock 1952 - Oil on Canvas**//

media type="youtube" key="CrVE-WQBcYQ" height="379" width="480" Jackson Pollock Video on Painting and Expression

media type="youtube" key="CD4ofEoUpxE" height="385" width="480" Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs are interviewed about the objectives and characteristics of the Beat Generation. This note touches on the social and political climate of the world during their time. A useful video for understanding the past.