i love you: poets getting over themselves
I’ve been quiet for a few days now. Partly that’s because I’m overwhelmed and partly that’s because I had a phenomenal experience Saturday and I have no way of expressing what made it so phenomenal. I am speechless. And for those who know me, you know it takes a lot to make me speechless. I usually ramble on about any and every little thing.
But I have to write something about what happened Saturday or I won’t be able to function. I need to process it, put some words to it, since that’s what I do as a writer. Here goes.
I was minding my own business the other day when I received an email from Mimi Allin. Here is what it said:
we STILL need poets for…
POETS GETTING OVER THEMSELVES
Saturday 18 October 2008 at 2P
Coordinated by: Aaron Silverberg & A. K. “Mimi” Allinif you’re wondering, YES, you’re a POET! please join us.
This 2hr instigation happens Saturday Oct 18th at 2PM at Green Lake (on the path at the promontory between Meridian & Orin Ct. — Arrive no later than 1:45). 20+ poets will sit in a line along the speedway. We will each wear something red (I’ve got red scarves for those who forget). We’ll say in turns, to passersby, “I LOVE YOU.” “I LOVE YOU.” “I LOVE YOU.” This is about poets getting out of their heads and INTO THE WORLD. Do you think this needs to happen? I do. All are encouraged to participate!! Just show up. Bring a fold-up chair, a sense of humor and layered clothing. This is an RSE (Rain or Shine Event). I’ll provide umbrellas! We’ll finish by no later than 4 and walk to a café for hot cocoa. Then … and only then … can we share the poetry.
This action is brought to you by working poets in Seattle. With every poem we write, we love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. Thank you for being there. Thank you for hearing us.
Press Contacts –
Aaron: coachajs@comcast.net
Mimi: mimiallin@gmail.comRSVP if you can … thanks!
Let me just point out that this is not something I would usually go for, not so much because of the telling-strangers-I-love-them part but because of the getting-together-with-other-poets-whom-I-don’t-know part. I do fine in social situations once I am in them, but I always imagine myself faring poorly and making an ass out of myself and being mocked and whatnot — I would like to thank several high school bullies for these unfounded fears — so I tend to talk myself out of, rather than into, social events.
But something told me to get on this thing, to go for it, even though I didn’t really understand the event. It seemed sort of nonsensical and silly. But I am all about nonsensical and silly — I can’t deny that fact. And I had just been talking with my new friend Jacob about the lack of poetry community in Seattle. We’d both expressed a desire to get more involved with poets here, so I asked him to come with me. What the hell, we figured.
There were so many incredible and varied reactions as people walked, jogged and strolled past us. Many were open to the experience, shouting “and I love you” back as they opened their arms. Several said that they were in a bad mood until they walked past us and that we’d turned their day around.
Other highlights:
- Two young women high-fiving all of us each time they jogged past.
- Giving and receiving a number of hugs, which wasn’t really part of the action but what are you going to do? People like to hug. Heck, I like to hug, even though hugging is sort of a new thing for me.
- A number of people stopping to talk to us, and a few even joining the event — including one poet/songwriter who just happened to be in the park. (How cool is that?)
- A woman holding hands with one of the poets then coming to tears as she told that poet, I could not live without your love.
- Perhaps most touching, for me, was a young man telling us he loved us in American Sign Language as he passed by.
Some — and I can’t blame them — assumed we were selling or peddling something, that there must have been an ulterior motive to what we were saying. Three or four asked us what church we were with. Several were disheartened that we weren’t reciting poetry (although we had books of poems stacked up on a bench nearby with a sign asking people to sit and take a look).
We received a couple of more heated reactions, which are equally valid (even though they aren’t the way I happen to see things). Two or three people told us we were being manipulative. One even said we were committing an act of violence. It was interesting to see people getting so disjointed over the words “I love you.” Those who were upset subscribed to the notion that we can and should only love those we know intimately, and that to use that phrase to communicate how we feel about one another in a general sense is an act of betrayal, of cruelty.
Most disconcerting were people who were clearly in pain. They were the ones who shrunk and winced when we said the words. Several people asked us how we could love them, as if their story of themselves and their lives didn’t allow for them to be loved.
The group dynamics were interesting, too. People would pass in waves. If the first people in any given wave responded positively, then almost everyone in that same wave would respond positively. In contrast, if the first people did not respond positively, most people in that wave would also not respond positively. We had an ever-changing crowd coming through, and each group of people carried with them a collective energy, which for me says a lot about how we affect others without even saying a word. Whatever we are carrying with us takes up residence in other people simply through our being near them.
Those micro-collective energies would have been present in each wave of people who passed, with or without our being there to draw out whatever that collective energy was, to bring that energy to the surface through our words, to make that energy palpable.
The poets involved in the action also created a group dynamic and energy. I didn’t know anyone there, really. I’ve met Mimi a couple of times and I know about her work in the Seattle community with regard to poetry and art, but I didn’t know her personally. I also barely knew Jacob, having just met him at the Sam Hamill workshop. And I didn’t know anyone else there at all.
But I’ll tell you what: If you spend a whole afternoon saying I love you to strangers along with a group of creative, intelligent, energized people, something happens. Try it sometime. I double dare you.
I haven’t felt this kind of community since I was in college, when the friends I was studying with came together to talk about what we loved and to do what we thought was right. I have this sort of community online, mind you — with The Poetry Collaborative and Read Write Poem and all the poets I associate with in a virtual sense. But it’s a real gift to find that community in my own back yard.
That’s kind of it. My words don’t come close to doing the experience justice. I didn’t even touch on all the stuff I wanted to say about awareness and shifts in consciousness and trust. But no worries. I will be posting more on this, namely about the instigation group we spontaneously founded that day, which we’re calling World of Wonderment: Invisible Theatre (WOW IT!). We’re putting some language together to describe the group, and I’ll share that along with the names of all the founding members very soon.
Before I go, I should explain the “I love you” part — why we were saying that and not something else. The way action co-organizer Aaron Silverberg put it, as poets our ultimate purpose is to connect with one another, to reach out to one another. Our poems are a way to do that — to observe, accept and embrace humanity.
With or without the poems, what are poets really doing if not affirming humanity, connecting with other people and ultimately saying that we love each other? And the event name “Poets Getting Over Themselves” is derived from the notion that too many poets are stuck in the poems, on the paper, and not connecting to other people. So this action was a way to make that connection.
Yeah. Not so nonsensical and silly after all, is it? Huzzah!
Oh, and we got YouTubed. I am the first one on the left.* This video was taken before everyone showed up, and before a few people wandered over and joined us, but it gives you the general idea of what we were doing. Here’s the link: Poets Getting Over Themselves.
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Note
*I would like to point out that my hair looks better than this most days.
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xxoo
Deb, it’s cute that you always give me the kisses first and the hugs last.
[...] Oh, and that’s my wifey, the first one on the left, the first one to say “I love you,” Mrs. Dana Guthrie Martin Funnelcake. Read her post about the event here. [...]
It was a beautiful fall day. I was wandering around Green Lake. I saw some poets hanging around. I thought, “Hmm, I’m a poet. I’ll hang around too.” But I could barely stay on the ground. I loved, and loved, and loved some more. I loved children, and women in wheelchairs, and male couples. I loved big. And the trees shook their leaves loose and everything went golden.
How can you resist that?
Dana, we should keep trying to put it into words. I will if you will.
Susan
Susan! So *that* is how you joined us. I thought you were one of the people who’d RSVP’d to be there. I had no idea that you were an impromptu addition. How fantastic is that?
I like how you say, “I saw some poets hanging around.” We’re like a gang. A poetry gang spreading the loooooooooove.
Everything did go gold. It was amazing.
And yes, I will keep trying. We’ll keep trying together.
Blythe, thanks for blogging the YouTube video. It’s so sweet, isn’t it? I love how Aaron just laughs as the camera passes by him. He has a great laugh.
I saw the film. This is very cool. What scares me is that anyone could see it as an act of violence? How scary. And sad. I think if I’d walked past, I’d have initially seen it as cultish or kooky (you know I am British *wink*) but if would have wriggled its way in and I’d have been thrilled too.
I smiled at your description of your social self…….I was bullied too and am just the same……once I go, I’m the life and soul of the party and people mistake me for lil miss confident, but beforehand I have to force myself if I’m going alone.
Oh and you have a really sweet voice!
Without reading this I would guess this event was some goofy stunt. Reading this though, I can see the act as something important, an inspired idea. It’s a great embodiment of what poetry can do, what it does, when it gets out in the world.
I love it. I can’t imagine getting upset when someone told me they loved me. It’s a strange way to look at something positive and make it negative. I’m glad you guys did that.
Jo, the life *and* the soul? In that case, come over to my house. Let’s party.
I was all whiny in the video. Going on about being cold or having to stand up or some such nonsense. I think I might actually have been whining about the camera and how bad I was going to look in the video.
So yes. That’s whiny Dana. I’ve been trying to enable Whiny Dana to make an exit from my life for about 37 years, but she refuses to get her ass off the stage.
Nathan, a goofy stunt? Surely you would have seen that it was more than that, with or without my little narrative. No?
Churlita, I love you!
I am going to forward this to my friend here in Albany who is in charge of most things poetry related in this area. I’ll bet he loves it!
Jillypoet, cool. Thanks for forwarding it. What kinds of things does your friend do?
That is really pretty cool.
Tom, I am so glad you don’t think it’s stupid.
i love you…
I participated last weekend…
this was in great contrast to a previous experience at a self development workshop where the leader suggested to us, close your eyes, and imagine you are scared of the person next to you, and next to them, and then the whole room and so on… AND then, that all those people are scared of YOU…
All this as a reminder, that others may interpret what we say or do, with whatever filter they are carrying with them— Be it love or fear…
Standing and speaking love, and love and love for hours, was a luscious feeling…
The sweet reminder about doing the ‘Poets getting over themselves’
was to witness all the ways of receiving the phrase, I love you, then extrapolating from that verbal response, imagining all the different ways of responding to receiving acts of love…
The continuum is vast…
and the inquiry arrived,
So how much capacity do friends, relatives and strangers allow, and how much do I? and then, where can i encourage myself and others to expand that capacity…
it was a beautiful experience.
and a great reminder to choose love over fear when ever i can…
and to choose to create ACTIVE public community art
beyond my private art
as a way to expand and encourage feeling and thought.
I bet many of the people that passed had their own discussions about what happened… awesome!!!
i love you.
ellarose
Great post, Dana. For you personally it sounds like it was a great way to connect with other poets, especially because you are now going to continue the work in other ways.
As far as the ‘I love yous’ goes, I see it as a sort of performance art. You all said the words, and received the reactions. Some people really don’t feel lovable, and that’s sad. I’m not sure how I’d feel if a line of people all said “I love you” as I passed. I’d probably laugh and high-five them, like the joggers.
Violence? Maybe they just didn’t want their little cloud of doom to be messed with, like Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh. What would we do without the Grinches of the world? Or the Scrooges? Maybe we need them to reflect our goodness and light, or maybe to comfort them.
Ellarose, thanks for your perspective on the action. (And for being there!)
You pose a very good question here: “So how much capacity do friends, relatives and strangers allow, and how much do I?”
The “how much do I” part resonates for me, as I know it did for the other poets. The action was not just about everyone else’s reaction. It was also about our own reactions, which I suspect were as varied and layered as the reactions of those around us.
I also like what you say about creating active public community art. Yes, yes, yes. That active and community element really does add another layer, too. As you said, *beyond* the private art we create. Very well stated.
I love you!
Christine, you’ve hit on something in your comment: about people not wanting their cloud of gloom messed with. You are right on.
Some people are “safe” in that place, they are very connected to it, they rely on it, they move through the world in that mindset. Frankly, it’s the only space that feels inhabitable to them. The only one.
HEY DANA I LOVE YOU! coolio – I’ve got tears in my eyes here in Chiloquin Oregon where I am on a writer retreat/teaching a little bit dealie partly through Fishtrap. I emailed Mimi to ask her how the I Love You event went at Green Lake, and she linked me to your blog. Meanwhile I was thinking “Dana Martin, Dana Martin, why do I know that name,” and then BINGO I KNOW and am so happy to find your blog and what you wrote here about Saturday, and and and. So anywayz, hi from Laura from the W.I. group. Um, I have a blog not a website through blogspot, still called nothing to hold onto, but I don’t know its url, though I am proud I know to say “url.”
Hi Laura!!! *waves*
Of course I remember you. So happy to hear from you.
I scoped out your site and added it to my google reader. Yay!
We should get together sometime. When are you back in these parts? Are you keen on joining us for any of our future instigations? (Say yes.)
I love you, too!
This is striking such a chord–have been spending a lot of time dwelling on issues of identity, individual versus group, isolation, role of poetry, community, hang-ups, etc. I would have had the same initial reaction that you describe here. I would like to think I’d have wound up going, too, and would have had a similarly world-opening experience. I’d love to build or fall into something like this where I am. I’m a misanthropic introvert, but one with a great desire to find my tribe.
Of course it isn’t silly, Dana. Despite the loathing I feel toward most of humanity, it is important to remember that we are all inhabiting this small sphere and have to live with each other. Unfortunately a lot of people forget that and figure the easier way is just … never mind.
No, I think this was a bit off-the-wall but it is a great reminder we all need to connect.
[...] that I Love You action I was part of a few weeks back, the one I asked my friend Jacob Jans to go to with me? I snookered [...]