CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
BACKGROUND:
Soma is an Indo-Iranian ritual drink made from pressing
particular psychedelic and energizing plants together.
In Vedic and Zoroastrian traditions the drink is identified
with the divine. The word Soma is derived from the
Sanskrit and Indo-European tongues meaning "to press
and be newly born."
Somatic is derived from the Greek, meaning the body.
In different medical disciplines it can mean different
things, from a cell or tissue, or to the part of the
nervous system that controls sensations and
movements.
My idea for a (Soma)tic Poetics is a poetry which
investigates that seemingly infinite space between body
and spirit by using nearly any possible THING around
or of the body to channel the body out and/or in toward
spirit with deliberate and sustained concentration.
The writing of (Soma)tics is an engagement with the thing of things and the spirit of things.
My first investigation into (Soma)tic poetry is a series I called (Soma)tic Midge This is a 7-poem
cycle where I fully immerse myself in a single color for a day. The order of the 7-poem cycle being
the natural order of color, starting with RED, then ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, PURPLE,
then ending with WHITE. PURPLE being the transformative, natural pivotal color which is born
ONLY WHEN the starting color RED (which is the first element of the Zodiac, Aries, or ORIGINAL
FIRE) and the last color BLUE (which is the last element of the Zodiac, Pisces, or ADVANCED
WATER) bleed together.
When I say fully immerse myself in the colors I mean ONLY eating foods of the color of the day, as
well as wearing something or keeping something of that color on or around me at all times.
THE FILTERS:
In (Soma)tic Poetry THE FILTERS are words which function as focal points for the information and
notes gathered from the exercises. With THE FILTERS you take all of your notes and begin to
write poetry about or through these words, shaping and editing as you go. But it's important to note
that THE FILTERS are only guides, and to help you shape the poem. Also it's good to use at least
2 FILTER words to prevent the conversation from becoming entirely internal or confessional,
meaning that with the extension of extra filters the worldview will broaden as the poem takes
shape.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
1.) Wash a penny, rinse it, slip it under your tongue and walk out the door. Copper is the metal of
Aphrodite, never ever forget this, never, don't forget it, ever. Drink a little orange juice outside and
let some of the juice rest in your mouth with the penny. Oranges are the fruit of Aphrodite, and she
is the goddess of Love, but not fidelity. Go somewhere outside, go, get going with your penny and
juice. Where do you want to sit? Find it, and sit there. What is the best Love you've ever had in this
world? Be quiet while thinking about that Love. If someone comes along and starts talking, quietly
shoo them away, you're busy, you're a poet with a penny in your mouth, idle chit chat is not your
friend. Be quiet so quiet, let the very sounds of that Love be heard in your bones. After a little while
take the penny out of your mouth and place it on the top of your head. Balance it there and sit still a
little while, for you are now moving your own forces quietly about in your stillness. Now get your
pen and paper and write about POVERTY, write line after line about starvation and deprivation
from the voice of one who has been Loved in this world.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
2.) In your home alone. Take a bucket or basin of room-temperature water to your front door and
strip naked. Put a piece of paper or thin notepad under the bucket and lay a pen nearby. Stand in
the water. Get used to being naked while standing in water at the front door. Look through the peep
hole. Look for a long time at the world out there. Then look above you, and at the door, the walls,
and make note of something you hadn't seen before -- maybe a cobweb or crack in the paint.
Every once in a while stretch your arms over your head stretch as high as you can stretch stretch
stretch then relax in your bucket. If someone knocks or rings the bell it's your good fortune! Look at
them through the peep hole while saying nothing. Maybe have a friend come over at a certain time
to knock and say, "Are you naked in your bucket of water?" Don't answer, you're a poet, this isn't
time for idle chit chat, besides that you can warn them ahead of time that you won't be answering
them. Stretch, and be quiet. Step out of the bucket and sit your poet ass on the floor, get the paper
from under the bucket and whistle short, loud bursts of whistle four times. Then write. When you
feel the need for more whistles, pause, whistle, then write some more.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
3.) Eat a little dark chocolate before getting on the subway. Sit in the middle of the car, and don't
get on a car where there are no seats for you. Sitting is best for this. Eat a little more dark
chocolate. For the next few stops examine the interior of the car with care. Then close your eyes,
and as the car rolls on its tracks make a low hum from deep inside you. Don't worry, no one can
hear you, trust me, I've tested this with a friend. As soon as the car stops write nine words as fast
as you can before the train moves again. These are not words you were thinking about, just write,
don't question what you write, just write. Repeat this humming and writing for nine stops. Get off
the train. Find a bench or patch of grass. Now look at that first set of nine words carefully, then
write something about the words. What do they mean to you? Then move onto the next set of nine
words and repeat. After this is finished poke around all this writing and see what kind of poem is
hiding inside it. It's there, trust me it's there. You've just emerged from the underground, rumbling
and grumbling and there is something waiting for you to discover it. (Please Note:) Try to not
engage with anyone while in the car, or while leaving the subway. Don't break your concentration.
Maybe have a little note prepared to hand a friend you might run into which explains why you can't
talk to them. Don't wait for their response, just hand them the note and get about your business,
you're busy. And they will understand, don't worry, just get going for your poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
4.) Take a red magic marker and draw a 9 on your naked chest. Draw the 9 from the bottom up.
Start the tip of its tail at your naval and sweep UP to have the round circle of its head in the middle
of your breasts. Put on a shirt that conceals the 9 from other eyes. Go out to the corner and quickly
choose a direction. At the next corner choose another direction. Don't think about where you are
going, instead spend the time between corners looking carefully at the world. Finally come to a
complete stop at the 9th corner. Look across the street and focus on four different objects. Draw a
line to connect them, looking carefully at what's inside this square you've just made. What's outside
it? What's half-in? Imagine you string lights to make the square. Imagine its contents at night, dimly
lit. Imagine this square a year from now. Ten years from now. Now go somewhere quickly and
write, run, run to a place where you can write. Suddenly the city, your city, is a place where places
to write come to mind, you must always know those places at all times.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
5.) Go to a bookstore. Go to the History Section. Close your eyes and randomly choose a book.
Turn to page 108. Read that page and pull one word you like from it. Go to the Romance Section,
repeat process. Then go to these other 7 sections and repeat process: Gardening, Religion,
Biography, Children's, Cookbooks, Law, Horror. After you've collected these 9 words sit in the
store, even if you must sit on the floor, then write a poem which includes these 9 words. This poem
must be immediate, and it must be written in the store where the 9 words were found on page 108
of 9 different books. I hope you show me your poem one day. Thank you ahead of time.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
6.) If you can be naked for this exercise it is best. Plan to be outside for 9 different sunsets. Get
yourself comfortable and seated an hour before the sunset. For 50 minutes focus on your feet.
Look at them. Where have they walked in this world? Are they tired? How do they smell? Can you
suck your toes? Give them a good taste. But mostly give them some serious concentration, they're
your feet, no one else's. This is a meditation for your feet. Imagine they had their own thoughts and
told you some things about themselves you did not know. Think of nothing but your feet. Think
about one, or both of them gone. Or damaged. Think of them in every way you can imagine
thinking about them. Then for the remaining 10 minutes before sunset, just before twilight, write at
a fever's pitch about some of those thoughts you have had about your feet. For the other 8 sunsets
focus on each of these 8 different body sections, one per sunset: Legs, Genitals, Naval, Breasts,
Arms, Hands, Neck, Head (exterior), Head (interior). If when you meditate on your genitals you feel
the urge to masturbate that is fine, but try to not orgasm because we want to keep the energy
challenged and in flux, not depleted. Of course if you do orgasm don't worry, no big deal. But try to
keep yourself from doing so. And if you do masturbate try to not do it for the full 50 minutes, there
are many things your genitals would like to tell you if you would only imagine that they could. After
the 9 sunsets are completed, take your 9 feverish streams of writings and on a fresh piece of paper
put the first word from the first sunset meditation, then the second word on the fresh piece of paper
is the first word from the second meditation, and so on, keep going until all the words from all the
writings are now fully mixed and on one document. From here you must become the natural editor
you are, looking closely, moving words, removing words, working it into the poem that's waiting to
be found. Take your time with this, it's nobody's business how long you take.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
7) Okay, so you find out you're going to die, or be killed later today. What meal would you like?
What meal is your favorite? Make that meal for yourself. Sit and write a few lines from the smell
and sight of it. Put your ear to the plate and move it around with your fingers or fork, or chopsticks.
Listen, smell, look, and eat it, slowly, very, very, slow, ly, eat, it. It's your favorite meal, it's your last
meal, enjoy every single flavor. Promise me you're slowly eating? Good. As soon as the last bite is
gone move quickly into the bathroom. Blast the cold shower while you strip naked. As soon as your
clothes are off then shut the water off. Light a candle, shut off all lights, then sit on the floor of the
cold, wet shower with your candle and write your poem, addressing some of what you wrote earlier
about your final meal. If someone should catch you and call you a weirdo yell back, "YES I AM
NOW LEAVE ME ALONE I'M BUSY!" You are busy, and you are a weirdo, and it's a marvelous
thing, now go back to your writing. Forget about them, it's not your fault you're more interesting
than they are.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
11) Use blue or purple ink for this please, if you have it. (Purple is best!) You also need a sheet of
white, unlined paper. Place the pen (purple ink the best!) and paper on the floor in front of a rocking
chair. Sit in the chair very still for a few minutes with eyes closed, keeping track of your breath.
Then breathe deeply three times, and begin rocking wildly, saying out loud as you rock, "OO-WAH"
over and over, nine times. On the ninth count of rocking with "OO-WAH" throw yourself onto the
floor and QUICKLY and without thinking draw an X then a line from the X, and where that line ends
draw another X. Now repeat this procedure of rocking and "OO-WAH" but when you fling yourself
at the pen and paper this time start from the X where the first line had stopped, then quickly draw
another line, then put an X where that line stops. Continue repeating until you have nine lines on
the page. Now you have a map. Follow your map in whatever location you want, it's your map after
all. You can follow it outside by streets and blocks, or in an empty parking lot, or field, or in your
bedroom or kitchen. Or have your finger follow the map on the naked body of your lover (this one is
my favorite!). But when you come to an X on your map, stop, pause to reflect on this spot where
you find yourself. Jot down a few notes. When you have finished your map-following and note-
taking you can then squeeze the poem out of the experience. It's there, it's in there.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
15) If you are Right Handed write two words on your right arm that you will say to someone today
(if you are Left Handed write on your left arm). Write these words where no one can see them.
Your energy leaves your body through this arm, you point with it, you throw with it, this is the arm
you use when the world receives from you. Keep these two words in mind all day, touch the words
on your arm from time to time when no one is looking. Ask people questions using the two words.
Don't ask them about the words, but use the words in your question. Remember what they answer
and write it down later. Alone at night place the sheet of paper with answers from people where
you can clearly read it. If you are Right Handed your left hand is where energy enters. (Or right if
you are Left Handed). Hold your left hand overhead while you write on another sheet of paper.
Rotate the hand overhead, and flex its muscles, open and close it, move it, constantly move it, and
with the other hand WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! Pause from writing (but keep the other hand flexing
and moving overhead) to read the answers from people again, then write, let whatever needs to
come COME! This is going to be beautiful. Relax with it, see what you've made. See what poem or
poems wait inside the writing. PLUCK THEM OUT!
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
16) YOUR BANANA WORD MACHINE: (This is primarily for poets living outside tropical regions)
LOCK THE DOOR AND UNPLUG THE PHONE, KILL all outside interference, you must NOT be
interrupted because YOU are about to build and ignite your BANANA WORD MACHINE, and once
it gets started it doesn't like to stop, for anyone, for any reason! You need: a banana, and pictures
of: parrots, boa constrictors, leopards, jaguars, banana trees, men and women carrying bananas to
trucks for export, OR anything else which has to do with banana production, or wildlife or anything
else native to where bananas grow. No music. No noise. If there is noise use ear plugs. Strip down
naked and sit on the floor with your pictures, your banana, pen and paper. Smell the unpeeled
banana while looking at each of the pictures you have chosen to build your BANANA WORD
MACHINE. When you settle on your favorite picture slowly open the banana, staring at the picture.
Imagine this picture ALIVE at the moment it was taken and BE THERE, slowly opening the banana
skin, smelling, taking small tastes. When you have absorbed the picture thoroughly, and feel
sufficiently transported mentally, get comfortable on your back, then slowly rub banana into your
skin wherever you most want to, but make certain to coat your solar plexus, throat, and
THOROUGHLY coat your forehead. Feet, genitals, ass, and wherever else you most want to of
course since this is YOUR OWN PERSONAL BANANA WORD MACHINE! Slowly chew a little of
the banana, and put the skin on your chest as you stretch out on your back with your eyes closed
and FILL YOUR BODY with the LOWEST possible HUM you can muster! SUSTAIN THAT HUM!
Then relax in your quiet, hum again, keeping eyes closed. Slowly chew a little more, smell, then
just relax in your BRAND NEW BANANA WORD MACHINE! When you feel quiet, and your
muscles quite limber, slowly massage the banana into your forehead, slowly, softly at first, then
deeper and FASTER in a circular, clock-wise motion. THEN SUDDENLY SIT UP inside your
BANANA WORD MACHINE and write write write write write WRITE! HUM and massage your
forehead again to keep your BANANA WORD MACHINE fully in gear and energized! Write, hum,
massage, relax, repeat, repeat, keep going, keep going, you, are, writing, in, your BANANA WORD
MACHINE! You will write some of the BEST poems of your life TODAY! YOUR BANANA WORD
MACHINE! LOVE YOUR BANANA WORD MACHINE! Yellow splendor!
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
19) YOUR GARBAGE SPEAKS: SAVE YOUR garbage for a week, every wrapper, every box,
carton, save it all. Rinse it out if you must, but it's better if you don't, better to SMELL it. At the end
of the week go through each item, slowly, carefully, do it in a closed room, don't let anyone bother
you. Don't answer the door or the phone, IGNORE THEM, you're busy looking at garbage to build
a poem! Take some notes, write down interesting facts from labels, or the size of things, how they
look, how you remember them before discarding them. Imagine where this packaging came from,
factories, and before that fields and trucks and many many hands picking them, grinding them,
printing with color and black ink. Take notes when thinking about these things. SMELL them one at
a time with eyes closed, eyes opened, eyes closed again SMELLING, deeply SMELLING. Notes,
take your notes. NOW GET NAKED AND GET IN THE BATHTUB, and go under water, blow
bubbles. Go under again and stay under a little longer. DO THIS several more times then COME
UP, dry your hands on the side of the tub and grab your notes, and grab your pen and paper and
WRITE about drowning, pull your notes together to write a poem about drowning and you're about
to die drowning BUT THIS IS what you want to share at the end. GO BACK UNDER the water
again, then COME UP AGAIN and WRITE!
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
21) LET YOUR TOES KNOW THE TRUTH: Take account of how many times you're not saying or
doing EXACTLY what you want to say or do in a day. How many times do you use a tone in your
voice which is not honest? How many times are you polite when you want TO SCREAM? How
much compromise does your day comprise? Take CLOSE account of this. DON'T LIE ABOUT IT
EITHER! This is for you, no one else will know SO BE TOTALLY HONEST! What is your body like
when you're not being who you are? How does it feel? Are your hands doing something in
particular each time? Your feet? Your groin, your stomach, how does your body react when you
are not REALLY you? At the end of the day take notes about this. These notes will be the formal
outline for this exercise. After that, EVERY DAY FOR THE NEXT 7 days you will pay attention to
the SIGNS OF DISHONESTY in your voice and your body, and whenever you are not who you
REALLY WANT TO BE at any moment in the day. Each time you are being polite to your boss, or
the baby-sitter, or don't say FUCK because there's a child in the room, EACH TIME you are not
you, CLENCH YOUR TOES! CLENCH THEM! Every time, CLENCH THEM! At the end of the day
are your toes tired of this? Are they feeling BETTER maybe? Soak your feet in hot salt water and
WRITE WRITE WRITE as quickly as you can, EACH NIGHT for 7 nights after a day of TOE
CLENCHING DISHONESTY soak them in hot salt water and WRITE with the pace only a
FURIOUS YOU would know how to do! OPEN YOUR EYES wider than they're used to being open
and WRITE, WRITE WITHOUT BLINKING if you can. WRITE! At the end of 7 days take a long
time staring at your feet, your toes, look at them. Stick them in your face if you can, right up to your
face and look at them. Take a magnifying glass and look at your feet. For 7 days your toes have
been taking the brunt of your dishonest actions. How does that look? Take notes. How does that
feel? Take many notes. STICK YOUR TOES IN YOUR MOUTH if you can. How does that taste?
Now, take ALL YOUR NOTES, and using THE FILTERS "ARREST" and "BASE" shape your poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
24) THROUGH THE REMAINS (Dedicated to Dodie Bellamy for her essay, "Digging Through
Kathy Acker's Stuff"). Read this interview with Dodie Bellamy for an introduction to the exercise.
Choose an article of clothing that holds special meaning to you, especially if it's something
someone you love gave to you. Wear it all day the day before the exercise, infusing the article of
clothing with your body by living your day EXACTLY how you want to live. Give the clothes a full
day of LIVING with your body, eating, drinking, loving how you want to. The next day take the
clothes out into the world with you wherever you go with your notebook. Drape them on a tree, or
bench, keep them near you like a doppelganger, like an old friend, like someone you need to know
better. Take notes about how you're feeling about the clothes being in your life. What are all of
these feelings? Was it given to you by someone you love? If so, when did you last see them? What
were you talking about? Take notes, lots of notes. Place the clothes in a bag, keep the bag near
you. Meditate on the bag. Then have just a portion of the clothes poke out of the bag. What can
you see about them like this that you hadn't noticed before? Study the textures, and, what is it
made from? Leather, wool, silk, what is it? Imagine the animals or plants it was made from. Can
you see these animals and plants in the world before they were your clothes? Trains, boats, trucks,
imagine these forms of transportation bringing the raw materials into the hands or machines that
made these clothes you love. Take note, lots of notes. Wrap the clothes on you in a way you don't
usually wear them. Take notes while they are on you. Wrap them around your head, and take
many more notes. Hold them in your hands, close your eyes, imagine where they will go when you
die. Imagine them in the world without you. Take notes, and if anyone interrupts you SHOO THEM
AWAY, politely if you want, but get rid of them, YOU'RE BUSY! Now take all of your notes, and
using THE FILTERS "FRICTION" and "HALLUCINATION" get to work shaping your poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
23) DEATH AS DIRT AS POETRY IS: Go to your local graveyard, spend some time searching for
a spot to sit. Find a spot where no one will pester you, you're busy, you're here to write poetry, not
to be pestered with small talk! When you have found your spot sit down on the ground. Take time
to look closely at ALL OBJECTS at your feet, in the trees, etc. Find three objects, one of them on
the ground, or at least touching the ground: your feet, a grave marker, tree trunk or roots, etc. The
other two off the ground in a tree, a building, but make them things which are stationary so you can
stay focused on them. Draw a triangle between these three objects. Focus hard on the contents of
your triangle, keeping in mind that the ground object you have chosen connects to the dead.
Imagine your triangle in different forms of light, darkness, weather, and seasons. Imagine someone
you love inside the triangle dying. Imagine yourself inside it dying. Gather notes in this process,
take notes, as many notes as you can about how you feel and what you feel. Then PAUSE from
these notes to focus again on your triangle, THEN write QUICKLY AND WITHOUT THINKING for
as much time as you can manage. Often it's these spontaneous notes which dislodge important
information for us. DO NOT HESITATE to write the most brutal things that come to mind,
HESITATE at nothing for that matter. Take some deep breaths and think about death by murder,
war, cancer, suicide, accidents, knives, fire, drowning, crushing, decapitation, torture, plagues,
animal attacks, dehydration, guns, stones, tanks, bombs, genocide, strokes, explosions,
electrocutions, guillotine, firing squads, parasites, suffocation, flash floods, tornadoes, earthquakes,
cyanide, poison, capital punishment, falling, stampedes, strangulation, freezing, baseball bats,
overdose, plane crashes, fist fights, choking, etc., imagine every possible form of death. Take
notes on your feelings for death at this point, DO NOT HESITATE. Now, TAKE ALL YOUR
NOTES, and using THE FILTERS "QUICKEN" and "EMBLEM" shape your poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
28) AMERICAN poem, AMERICAN poet, the roots the roots the roots there are roots: Go to a
local government building or monument, courthouse, statue or prison, but a government structure,
one paid for by all tax payers. This monument or building is something you paid to create,
something you pay to upkeep. It stands for the collective stronghold of our nation, as Americans,
as America moves and removes our collective fingerprints around the world as a military, as a
business, as a structure of faces supplanting trust and empathy with a guise of trust and empathy
under the guise of one flag. This is not to say an angry poem must ensue. This is just saying LET'S
GET CLEAR. This is not to suggest you read up on American assassinations of leftist governments
in South America, this is just saying KNOW what you already know to be true when coming to this
poem. We're here as Americans. It's an American poem in a way that has roots, literally roots.
Study the plants if there are plants. Study the grass around this government building or monument.
Smell samples of the soil. What's around? See everything as best as you can, sit very still and look
closely at the world as it always is around this structure you have come to today. DO NOT
ENGAGE IN COVERSATION WITH OTHERS. You're here for how you see it, how you see this
structure, how you see our country. This is personal. The date presently is April, 2009. We are at
war on more than one front, millions of lives have been lost, and who knows how many more are at
stake as our tax dollars purchase bullets and bombs, prisons and worse. Look at this structure you
have come to, and know you are paying for its upkeep. You have a claim to it today. Take a list of
notes about the structure, but these will be the notes you glean from later, as these are not the real
notes for the poem. Take another list of notes while investigating the plant life, the soil, the natural
surroundings. Take yet another list of notes about the government structure, only this time take
notes about WHAT it is made from. Is there wood? Is there metal? Write in your notes about trees
and rocks, iron and oil. Write about the elements all these parts of the structure originated from,
and how they arrived here by boat and truck. Take the notes of the government structure broken
down into the finer notes of the natural elements the structure originated from, and combine those
notes with the notes of the natural world surrounding the structure today. Weave these notes, as
this is an exercise in weaving notes. Now with the FEELINGS you have of being an American
TODAY, whose tax dollars continue to pay for the cost TRUE HUMAN COST of two wars, form
these final notes into a poem BUT WITHOUT EVER mentioning the government structure. And
without directly involving America by name. Write a poem as a poet of the world with feelings for
our collective human costs of war. Write this poem through THE GRASS AND TREES you see
around you. Now take all your notes, and using THE FILTERS "ALERT" and "EXILE" shape your
poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
29) Go to a shopping mall parking lot with trees and other landscaping growing between the cars to
create this poem. Find a tree you connect with, feel it out, bark, branches, leaves. Sit on it's roots
to see if it wants you OFF! These trees are SICK WITH converting car exhaust and shopper exhale
all fucking day! Sit with your tree friend. Don't pay attention to the cars coming in and out of the
parking lot, you're here to write poetry, not to worry about what a lunatic you appear to be.
Remember what our QUEEN poet of merging celestial bodies Mina Loy said, "If you are very frank
with yourself and don't mind how ridiculous anything that comes to you may seem, you will have a
chance of capturing the symbol of your direct reaction." Public Space is not easy in shopping mall
parking lots, but calmly explain yourself to the security guard like I did when creating this exercise.
They will train a camera on you, but the sooner you get rid of them the sooner you can train the
camera of your brain. Take notes, feverishly at first. Use a magnifying glass to study the dirt, trunk,
to look carefully at leaf veins and bark structure. Notes, take notes, writing quickly, as if you've just
discovered a sleeping creature that may wake at any moment and ATTACK YOU! Smell your
hand, smell a branch. Study then the sky and buildings and people and everything, every detail.
Face one direction and stare for a few seconds. Close your eyes and while they're closed imagine
what you saw. Open your eyes and notice what you missed when imagining what you saw. Study
what was missed and where and how it exists in relation to your tree friend. Take notes. If you are
right-handed then touch the tree with your left hand, for your left hand is the hand which absorbs
the world. Then walk to other trees in the parking lot and touch them with your right hand, for your
right hand is the hand which sends your messages OUT of you. Touching your right hand to the
other trees sends OUT of you the message your tree friend put into you through your left hand.
Take notes on what was said from tree to tree. What message were you carrying? Take notes
while leaving. Later, at home, close your eyes and remember your tree friend, take more notes
from this visit with your memory. Now take all your notes, and using THE FILTERS "TRACT" and
"INITIATE," shape your poem.
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CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
35) ANNOINT YOURSELF: Visit the home of a deceased poet you admire and bring some natural
thing back with you. I went to Emily Dickinson's house the day after a reading event with my friend
Susie Timmons. I scraped dirt from the foot of huge trees in the backyard into a little pot. We then
drove into the woods where we found miniature pears, apples and cherries to eat. I meditated in
the arms of an oak tree with the pot of Emily's dirt, waking to the flutter of a red cardinal on a
branch a foot or so from my face, staring, showing me his little tongue. When I returned to
Philadelphia I didn't shower for three days, then rubbed Emily's dirt all over my body, kneaded her
rich Massachusetts soil deeply into my flesh, then put on my clothes and went out into the world.
Every once in awhile I stuck my nose inside the neck of my shirt to inhale her delicious, sweet
earth covering me. I felt revirginized through the ceremony of my senses, I could feel her power tell
me these are the ways to walk and speak and shift each glance into total concentration for
maximum usage of our little allotment of time on a planet. LOSE AND WASTE NO MORE TIME
POET! Lose and waste no more time she said to me as I took note after note on the world around
me for the poem.
http://somaticpoetryexercises.blogspot.com
CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
37) TOUCH YOURSELF FOR ART: There must be a piece of art near where you live that you
enjoy, even LOVE! A piece of art that IF THERE WAS WAR you would steal it and hide it in your
little apartment. I'm going to PACK my apartment TO THE ROOF when war comes! This exercise
needs 7 days, but not 7 consecutive days as most museums and galleries are not open 7 days a
week. At the Philadelphia Museum of Art hangs the Mark Rothko "Orange, Red and Yellow, 1961,"
a painting I would marry and cherish in sickness and in health, have its little Rothko babies, hang
them on the wall with their father, and a portrait of my breasts to feed them at any hour. For 7 days
I sat with my dearest Rothko. The security guards will think you're odd when you come for 7 days
to sit and meditate. Never mind that, bribe them with candy, cigarettes or soda, whatever it takes to
be left in peace. Bring binoculars because you will get closer to the painting than anyone else in
the room! Feel free to fall in love with what you see, you're a poet, you're writing a poem, go ahead
and fall in love! Feel free to go to the museum restroom and touch yourself in the stall, you may not
be allowed to touch the paintings but they can't stop you from touching yourself, fantasizing
touching and being touched by them. And be sure to write on the restroom wall that you were there
and what you were doing as everyone enjoys a dedication to the details in museums. And be
certain to leave your number, you never know what other art lover will be reading. When you return
REMEMBER THAT there is no museum in the world with rules against the use of binoculars,
information you may need for the guards if you run out of cigarettes and candy. Map your 7 days
with extravagant enhancements: mint leaves to suck, chocolate liqueurs, cotton balls between your
toes, firm-fitting satin underwear, things you can rock-out with (in secret) for the art you love. Take
notes, there must be a concentration in note-taking in your pleasure-making. Never mind how
horrifying your notes may become, horror and pleasure have an illogical mix when you touch
yourself for art. Once you gather your 7 days of notes together you will see the poem waiting to be
pulled out of a long and energizing dream.
http://somaticpoetryexercises.blogspot.com
CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
47) (SOMA)NIMAL COMMUNIQUE: DAY ONE: On 8 small pieces of paper draw 8 different
animals with crayons, magic markers, pens, paint, or whatever. Elephants, bats, tigers, wolves,
and even supernatural animals like angels, dragons, leprechauns, horse ghosts. Make one of
these your spirit totem, or at least an animal you feel an affinity for. On the back of the drawing
write something like, “HELLO, my name is Craig, and I am a dragon from rural Pennsylvania. You
might have some questions for me, and I might have some questions for you.” Create an e-mail
address to include with your message. Go out into public and leave each animal for strangers to
find on subways, in libraries, at hair salons, or taped to a restroom stall. SAVE your totem animal
for last. Research the spiritual and mystical legends associated with your animal. For instance one
of my totems is the crow which is said to know both Divine Law and Human Law, but always
weighs situations by Divine Law. While walking through Philadelphia with my crow drawing I looked
for such signs. For instance it is perfectly legal by Human Law for rich people to purchase
diamonds many suffered to mine, and then to walk past homeless people begging for spare
change for supper. Clearly the Science of Love has no legitimate testimony for Human Law. Take
notes throughout the entire process of the animal card creations and public deposits. And involve
any correspondence with strangers in your poem. DAY TWO: Begin your day with a walk around
your neighborhood. Notice the animals that surround us. Try to keep a list of them and what they
say to you as they cross your path. This can include squirrels, dogs, cats, rats, mice, etc…bugs are
animals too, in my opinion. Look for them. Listen to them. Talk to them. Take notes. Use at least
1/3 of these "conversations" in the poem.
http://somaticpoetryexercises.blogspot.com
CAConrad’s (SOMA)TIC POETRY EXERCISES
49) TAKE A (SOMA)TIC BUS RIDE: PART ONE: Take a bus to a city where you have never lived.
We took a bus to NYC from Philadelphia. The driver was obnoxious, but we were undeterred. The
driver was a terrible driver, tapping the accelerator over and over and over lurching stopping
lurching stopping. This is excellent for poetry, these bad bus drivers. Have one foot on the floor, the
other hovering an inch above the floor. FEEL the staggering, growling engine through the floor.
Look outside. What engines move the world out there? Trees, what does the engine of a tree
sound like? Touch the seat in front of you in two-second intervals. Lift your hand to the air in front
of you. It is FREE from the vibrations of the bus. HOW is this your life? What does it even mean to
ask "HOW is this your life?" How are you FREE and not free? Look around you at the strangers on
the bus. You are near people who share planet Earth with you. LOOK AT THEM. What do you
have in common with each other? Take notes, take notes, notes notes notes. PART TWO: When
you get off the bus, you should be hungry. Go get something to eat at a kind of restaurant you've
never eaten at before, and order something you've never tasted before. As you eat, say the name
once in a while of the dish you've ordered, and think about the sounds of the words along with the
taste of the food -- does it match? Are there discrepancies? Take notes on your napkin. Ask the
server what they think about the dish -- do they like it, why, why not? Take as many napkins with
you as you can so you can write on them throughout the day. Exit the place and ask the first
person you see (or who'll answer you) in which direction they think you should walk. You're not
worried about going any direction in particular. If they ask what type of destination you want, say
"Look, I need some guidance, okay?" Walk a couple of blocks and then ask another person "Left or
right or straight ahead?" Do this 7 times. Walk two blocks after the 7th direction -- this is your
destination. Take out your napkins and write about what you saw on the way, see now, and how
the food feels in your belly. Do this sitting on the ground. Shape all your notes into a poem.
http://somaticpoetryexercises.blogspot.com
