Write about your own “situation” experience

Write about your own “situation” experience
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In this assignment, you’ll write about an experience in which you open yourself up to, much like in the poem “A LEAF” by Bronislaw Maj, page 258. What do I mean? That’s a good question.Poetry is about slowing down, slowing down, slowing down, so you see the images, feel the pace and rhythm of the lines, sense the shape and sound of each word. Poetic experience might be defined as “being present to each moment as it passes, while observing and sensing through images.” While you are present, the images can have an effect on you. While you are present, you sense the shape of the words, you feel the sounds roll around your mouth and your mind. One might call this slowing down having a “mind of flowing water.” In other words, rather than judging the images, you let them flow by, not attaching to them, just watching them. Rather than judging the meaning of the lines, you let them flow by, like a river of words. Rather than judging the words, the sounds, you let them flow by, sensing them.

This doesn’t mean you don’t have thoughts about the different aspects of the poem, it’s just that you are in “the mind of water,” letting the poem flow as you observe and sense, rather than judge. This doesn’t mean that we don’t naturally make inferences about what we are reading. However, it means that when you are in “the mind of water,” you are engaging with the experience of the poem at a different level, what scientists call meta-cognition, a state of mind that allows one to be aware of stimulus, thoughts, and experiences without responding right away. Instead, one observes the stimulus (poem) and the response (senses, thoughts, activity) without immediately judging the moments as they pass. This is a great human ability, as well as a good way to read and write poetry.
So your job is to take some time this week to practice this kind of poetic activity. In other words, I’m asking you to decide to have “the mind of water” sometime during your week, then write about that experience.
I’ve had students do this in various ways. One student decided to simply watch the street corner out of his apartment window for a while. Rather than judging what he saw, he just watched the flow of traffic, the people walking, the people waiting for a bus. Then he noticed trees flowing in the breeze. He kept noticing things that were there every day that he’d never slowed down to see.
Another student decided to have “the mind of water” while working as a food server. Instead of immediately responding to every stimulus at her job, she decided to watch the flow of her day, the flow of how her customers spoke, the flow of how all the orders went in and came out. By opening up to “the mind of water,” she noticed details about her customers, her work habits, and the flow of her co-workers that she’d never seen. The key is that she’d seen things she’d never seen before.
And many students take Maj’s poem, “A Leaf,” quite literally, and go someplace serene and watch nature. The more into “the mind of water,” you’ll be quite surprised at how much activity you see flowing around you.
After you open yourself to this kind of poetic activity, come back and write about it in this forum.
REMEMBER: Observe and sense. DON’T JUDGE. DON’T THINK. Just observe and sense, having “the mind of flowing water.” I mean, when has a teacher ever encouraged you to not think?