The Gero-Punk Project

Preamble

Play and collaboration and spontaneity and complexity and creativity and rebellion are at the heart of the Gero-Punk Project. And so is responding to what emerges…such as: The end of Fall Term teaching (and lots of grading!)! A family emergency! The holidays! And my fabulous 50^th birthday!

At the most recent Gero-Punk Salon we engaged in a communal writing project, a version of what the Surrealist André Breton called the “Exquisite Corpse,” a collaborative creative process that taps into the collective unconscious. In our version of the process, we wrote eight line poems, with each of us writing a line on a sheet of paper and then folding the paper so the next writer could only see the line immediately preceding.  The poems emerged through each writer’s response to the line before, without knowing anything about the shape of the overall piece.  We were all working within the broad themes articulated in the Gero-Punk Manifesto, but each with our own ideas about what those themes might entail.

Here’s is our 6th poem out of 8 poems.

What comes to mind when you read it?

Poem 6

There are things I don’t know about which I would

seek to know more by opening my consciousness to

all that provokes, incites, and inspires me.

What provokes you? What incites me? The possibilities are endless!

What is inside the box?

And does it have to remain inside?

I think not—let it emerge like a bud that bursts into bloom.

Such delicate unfurling even on a cold winter’s day.

+++

By: Simeon; Aisling; Jenny; Jackie; Cyndi; Glenna; Libby; Masaki.

Gero-Punk Salon, 12.11.16

Preamble

Play and collaboration and spontaneity and complexity and creativity and rebellion are at the heart of the Gero-Punk Project.

At the most recent Gero-Punk Salon we engaged in a communal writing project, a version of what the Surrealist André Breton called the “Exquisite Corpse,” a collaborative creative process that taps into the collective unconscious. In our version of the process, we wrote eight line poems, with each of us writing a line on a sheet of paper and then folding the paper so the next writer could only see the line immediately preceding.  The poems emerged through each writer’s response to the line before, without knowing anything about the shape of the overall piece.  We were all working within the broad themes articulated in the Gero-Punk Manifesto, but each with our own ideas about what those themes might entail.

Over the next several days I will be publishing the eight Gero-Punk Poems that emerged from our creative play together.

 Poem 5

We are, each and every one of us, legitimate

but we sometimes or often break the rule

without knowing, without understanding why.

I move forward with an open heart

all my senses are alive.

The long labor of each lovely day

fills my soul with a majestic sense of reward

of simply breathing and being.

+++

By: Jackie; Masaki; Cyndi; Glenna; Libby; Simeon; Aisling; & Jenny

Gero-Punk Salon, 12/11/26

Preamble

Play and collaboration and spontaneity and complexity and creativity and rebellion are at the heart of the Gero-Punk Project.

At the most recent Gero-Punk Salon we engaged in a communal writing project, a version of what the Surrealist André Breton called the “Exquisite Corpse,” a collaborative creative process that taps into the collective unconscious. In our version of the process, we wrote eight line poems, with each of us writing a line on a sheet of paper and then folding the paper so the next writer could only see the line immediately preceding.  The poems emerged through each writer’s response to the line before, without knowing anything about the shape of the overall piece.  We were all working within the broad themes articulated in the Gero-Punk Manifesto, but each with our own ideas about what those themes might entail.

Over the next several days I will be publishing the eight Gero-Punk Poems that emerged from our creative play together. It is a Gero-Punk Poem extravaganza!

 Poem 4

Thinking, Breathing, and Being is

the essence of living, without being bounded by age,

those fickle rules that stand in our way.

I want to break each and every one of them.

Once broken I will instill a flame of passion

a flame that reveals who I truly wish to become

standing witness to who I have been.

And finally, I’ve found who I am, and sleep.

+++

By: Jackie, Masaki, Cyndi, Glenna, Libby, Simeon, Aisling, & Jenny

Gero-Punk Salon, 12/11/16