What impression, or skein of images scotch taped to the
clouds, do I recall – Nick Flynn’s workshop, imbued in a not so distant past?
Flynn led our group of writers, held together by the mutual grout of ‘dreamer.’
The participants were led to water, a place to ponder our reflections, and our
personal compositions were brought together under cascades of imagery, or more
precisely, recurrent imagery, i.e. cathexis. Merriam Webster defines cathexis
as: investment of
mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea.
In order to practice cathexis, Flynn gave
us exercises that mainly followed the plume of nonfiction or fiction, though
the length of the homework could just as easily be labeled or molded into prose
poetry (molting). The purpose of the
workshop concentrated on the pursuit of an image or object that contained a
special relevance to an individual’s existence.
Three major exercises helped shape this amorphous gelatin (what we
experience everyday), which surrounds the nuclei of a central image (psyche,
purpose). Flynn then turned us all into
mythical beasts, no, not really, but he definitely added to the book of ‘How
To.’
To approach central images, Flynn had us
describe various objects, some set in various locations, and some held
placeholders in our past. After getting
into the groove of description, we wrote five seven minute stories. These seven
minute stories really opened a group consciousness and allowed for creative
dispersion into genres previously inadequately explored. (I think many of us
benefited by a shared experience of being able to branch out into different
genres, cross-genre, or collaboration.)
To write one of these stories, find a
setting or situation randomly on the internet (with the aid of
www.reanimationlibrary.org), and then write a story from that image or you
conceptual position in that image, without stopping, for seven minutes. By letting the subconscious become an amoeba,
it is able to explore the given space, the page, and morph into the recurrent
objects that thread throughout experience. After getting a grasp on ‘image or
images,’ we wrote an additional five stories that centered on the image in
various ways. I chose to write about
parking lots and birds, other peeps chose topics like nuclear plants, jelly
packets (Flynn), the farming industry, and Los Angeles (there was even a python
crawling around).
To explore cathexis a final project took
shape. Using the creative juices or
ourselves and our peers, a project of cross-genre and collaboration felt out
the edges of each individual’s image nest.
On the last day, fledglings flew, pasting themselves as various images
on a white screen, while each of the writers in the workshop read an
amalgamation of lines gleaned from their writings of the week. The series of images moved in slideshow as
the writers read their pieces, and the energy exchange that occurred, well, the
explanation is best left to neuroscientists.
Do you have to dissect a pigeon to understand its beauty?
Nick Flynn gave us an opportunity not only
to learn about cathexis, but to test the waters of other genres, and create
bridges (sketches of) for the gardens of collaboration. He is a real and authentic guy, and it was a
pleasure to work with him for one meta-week.
