Dear Friends,
I’m starting to feel the first breath of spring, and I hope you are too. I’m excited to announce three spring classes beginning in February and March. I love teaching, and I very much hope to see you at one or more of these classes. Please feel free to pass on this information to friends who you think would be interested.
Oracular Writing is a collaboration with my dear friend Kathe Izzo: an online generative writing workshop where we will explore playfully divinatory approaches.
Zen and the Art of Attention will introduce the poetic and philosophical writings of Dogen, and will be held in person at the Strother School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn.
The Path of Expression is a monthly class offered by the Village Zendo — I’ll be leading the spring session on Zen Poetry.
Also, if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this letter you’ll find my first ever poll. It’s an easy way to let me know what you want to see more of in The Uses of Art.
— Sal
Oracular Writing
A Generative Writing Workshop
with Kathe Izzo and Sal Randolph
March 16, 3-5 pm.
Online
Find new space in your writing and devotional practice during this two-hour workshop with poet-friends Kathe Izzo and Sal Randolph. We will use oracular techniques and forms of writerly divination to invoke our muses and invite the playful trance of the literary subconscious. We will write together under the auspices of generosity, pleasure and spontaneity. No preparation or previous experience is needed.
About Us
Kathe Izzo and Sal Randolph have been poet-friends and frequent collaborators since encountering each other in Provincetown in the ’90s. Their collective projects have included readings, exhibitions, performances, and workshops.
Kathe Izzo/The Love Artist is a conceptual artist & poet working in many mediums from social engagement to long form meme poetry & more, with her specialty being the intuitive space of the noosphere, the meta landscape where we all dream together. Of all the anthologies & journals she has been included in, her favorite is THE OUTLAW BIBLE OF AMERICAN POETRY (Thunder’s Mouth Press). Kathe’s substack: My Braniac Amor.
Sal Randolph is an artist and writer who lives in New York and works between language and action. She is the author of The Uses of Art, a memoir of transformative encounters with works of art, described by Michael Cunningham as “dazzlingly original, ferociously intelligent.” Her poems have been featured in BOMB, jubilat, Sound American, and elsewhere; her performance and social art works have appeared internationally at museums and in exhibitions including the Glasgow International, Ljubljana Biennial, Manifesta 4, and the São Paulo Biennial. She has taught at Princeton and Bennington College. Sal’s substack: The Uses of Art.
Oracular Writing
with Kathe Izzo and Sal Randolph
March 16, 3-5 pm ET
Online
A recording will be made available following the workshop.
$55
($45 for paid subscribers - a discounted registration link will be mailed to you)
Zen and the Art of Attention
3 Mondays 7-9 pm starting March 4th
The Strother School of Radical Attention
138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn
Attention and distraction can seem like new problems—part of our distinctively contemporary life—yet there is a rich history of contemplative practice stretching back thousands of years and across continents. Almost all spiritual traditions include some form of quiet sitting and contemplation; these practices could be considered technologies of attention, part of our collective cultural heritage. Can they offer new ways of relating to the commercialized attention economy we live in today?
This course offers an introduction to one such tradition, Zen Buddhism, as seen through the enigmatic and poetic essays of the great thirteenth-century Zen teacher, Eihei Dogen. We will engage in close reading of three key essays, “Bendowa” (“On the Endeavor of the Way”), “Genjokoan” “Actualizing the Fundamental Point”) and “Uji” (“Time-Being”). The course will culminate in an Attention Lab which will include an opportunity to experience the practice of Zen meditation.
March 4th - March. 18th
Mondays, 7:00 - 9:00pm
Strother School of Radical Attention
138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn
The course will culminate in a free, public Attention Lab.
Cost: $200 (sliding scale from $160, some full tuition scholarships available).
The Path of Expression
Select Sundays beginning February 25
The Village Zendo
Online
The Village Zendo’s Japanese name, Dotokuji, means True Expression Temple. Expression and expressive forms are central to Zen practice—they bridge the contemplative wisdom of zazen with its functioning in the world as responsive action.
This year’s Path class, the Path of Expression, will be led by Fusho Hoshi and senior student Sal Gessho Randolph, and will explore two of the traditional Zen arts: poetry and flower arranging. Meeting monthly on Sunday afternoons, the Path of Expression will combine council-style dialogues and exercises with expressive practice with words and flowers.
The spring sessions, led by Sal Gessho Randolph, will focus on Zen poetry. We will be reading in the rich traditions of Zen poetry from China, Japan, and the US. We will also learn about and practice some of the traditional Zen poetic forms. Readings and handouts will be provided to participants.
During the fall sessions Hoshi Traven Fusho Rice, will guide the group through the basics of Ikebana-influenced flower arranging for both the home altar and the home. Participants in the Zen Flowers course will be given a list of required and suggested materials to be purchased independently at a modest cost (not included in program fee).
You may register for both sessions or for one.
Sundays, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Part One: Zen Poetry
February 25
March 31
April 28
May 19
Part Two: Zen Flowers
September 22
October 20
November 17
December 15
The Path of Expression
Village Zendo
Select Sundays 1:30-4:00 pm ET, beginning February 25
Online
Single section: $200, ($175 Village Zendo members)
Register for both: $350 ($325 Village Zendo members)
If you have friends who might be interested in any of these classes, please share this post!
A Poll!
As I mentioned in my recent New Year’s post, I’m dreaming up some new ideas and directions for this newsletter. Now is a great time to for all of you weigh in on what you’d like to see more of. Please elaborate or offer other ideas in the comments.
so excited to collaborate with you & the divine 🍒
I’d love to take classes and workshops with you but am too booked up at this time. Maybe in the summer.