Assignment #10

Read: any/all of the poetics statements at the end of PAM. Go to www.manifestos.net and nose around (not all poetry here, much art and politics). Do a ton of nosing around. If these don't appeal, find Shelley's "Defense of Poesie" or Emerson's "The Poet."

ASSIGNMENT#10

Think: about your obsessions. A manifesto is a statement of need--a calling into being of a movement into the world. If you can't manage one--a passionate and bombastic proclamation about how what you believe could and should change the world (through politics, art, work, living, etc.)... then write a defense or an apologia. Whatever you write should be a statement of poetics, by which I mean your philosophy of making/being. You can tie your statements to other passions (birds/comics/etc) but be aware that such statements are intensely public statements of private practices and will be read as such. You should be nailing your soul to the door of city hall, and daring others to refute or join you.


Manifestos often have three sections:

* An Intro which declares its context--a specific place and time. The description should itself be a model of the kind of art/life/work you are calling for. This section should also identify what you are against and why.

* Mission statement for your art in list form (often numbered)

* Conclusion: how this wd change the world--why others shd enter into your utopian/dystopian vision


Make me want to join you people. I'm in need of some life-alteration: please provide.