Writing and Walking Workshop 1: Opening the Senses 3-30-09

Ecology of Language and Place: Chamberlain/McKinnon

-Read the following quote, by David Abram, aloud with a partner.

-Go outside and find a special place to write. Date and title your entry, “Writing/Walking Workshop 1: Opening
the Senses,” date. your name, etc.

-Spend an hour writing.

Different paths through the present terrain resonate with different stories from the Dreamtime, and
indeed every water hole, ever forest, every cluster of boulders or dry creekbed has its own Dreaming, its own
implicit life. The vitality of each place, moreover, is rejuvenated by the human enactment, and en-chant-ment, of
the storied events that crouch within it. The Dreamtime, then, is integral to the spatial surroundings. It is not a
set of accomplished events located in some finished past, but is the very depth of the experiential present--the
earthly sleep, or dream, out of which the visible landscape continually, comes to presence. And once again human
dreaming, human intention, human action and chanting participate vividly in this coming-to-presence. (p.193)

A butterfly glides by, golden wings navigating delicate air currents with a few momentary flutters before
they settle on a white flower. The seedstalks of the grasses bounce in the breeze, while clustered wildflowers
tremble on their stems, awaiting the humming insects that motor haphazardly from one to the other. Fragrant
whiffs from new blossoms in the overgrown orchard by the creek stir me from afar, drifting like spiderwebs on the
faint winds. My sensing body now vividly awake to the world, I gradually become conscious of a third mode of
invisibility, of an unseen dimension in which I am so thoroughly and deeply immersed that even now I can hardly
bring it to full awareness...

It is the invisibility of the air. (223)

David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

About descriptive writing in general:

In descriptive writing, the writer describes an object, a place, a person or group of people, an activity, or an
event so as to make the readers feel what the writer has felt, sense what s/he sensed, and experience what s/he
experienced. Good description often relies on showing rather than on telling, and, in order to show, you will
probably want to use specific and concrete details and illustrations. Good description also offers a dominant
impression to the reader, utilizing such writing techniques as metaphors.

Working Alone: Writing From The Senses: Description (30 min.)

Write your name, the date, and title of your entry--” In-Class Writing/Walking Workshop #1: Writing
From the Senses. When completed, place this exercise in the “Writing Workshop” section of your class portfolio.

1) Go outside and walk around the campus grounds until you find a place that calls you. Allow your
intuitive side to lead you. Take a few minutes and introduce yourself to this place.

Take notes on what you see. It’s O.K. to make lists of words that come to you.

2) Separate out different sounds. Listen for a sound that attracts you and write about it.

3) Observe the colors, shapes, and textures around you. Observe the different plants. Observe an animal,
should it come to visit your place. Observe the light and its luminosity or intensity. Observe the
movements about you. Write.

4) Breathe in the different smells. Try to feel the wetness of each breath. Draw your breath into your belly.
Feel your breath. Now pull your breath into your back and allow it to fill your spine. Write.

Find something around you, crush it with your fingers, and inhale its scent. Write.
5) The trees, the life around you, the air -- all are part of a web. Extend your
senses out to connect with this web. Allow your senses to taste this web. Taste the molecules of air.
Imagine that your sense of smell is connected to your tongue. Draw the air over your tongue and describe
its taste. Write.

6) Touch this world you have been introducing yourself to. Touch around you with both the palms
and backs of your hands. Now see yourself as a young child. Touch this world around you again, really
touching. Write about the experience.

7) See if you can integrate your senses (synesthesia); smell with your tongue, taste with your touch, feel with
your eyes, and listen with your nose. In this way, observe if your perception or experience of nature is
altered. (Recall how Linda Hogan uses descriptive language to mix the senses.)

8) At this special place, the solid, stable world you see exists because of an agreement you made very early in
your life to perceive the world as firm, rigid, and solid. Yet, in reality, all that is around you is in motion
as molecules within everything that are vibrating. Take a moment to step out of that perceptual
agreement you once made, and attune yourself to this animistic, unstable, vibrating world. Write about
this experience.

9) As you begin to blend into the natural world, what is your sense of the community of this place?
How do you feel included/excluded?

10) Are there any characters around you? Can you tell their story?

Part 3: Reading What You Write 30 Min.

Return to your group and share what you wrote.

Post your writing into your class portfolio. (To keep your writings listed chronologically, don’t forget to title and
date each entry.)