From March 13 through March 22, writer Kevin Varrone will be leading an online discussion group about walking. He believes that because walking is slow, it is like the mind at its best—moving at around 3 miles per hour. In this group you’ll discuss 10 walking poems by 10 contemporary poets in 10 days. And maybe you’ll do some walking while you think about that day’s poem. The poems will be provided and no preparation is necessary.
If you want to join (it’s free) send your name, email address, mailing address, any brief description of any affiliation you have with the Writers House or Penn. Write to Sophia at whbook@writing.upenn.edu .
| More about this discussion group… In Wanderlust, Rebecca Solnit writes: I like walking because it is slow, and I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought. I tend to agree with Solnit’s idea, and literary history suggests a lot of other poets do as well! Walking roots us in place and offers the opportunity to think and see, without rush––to stay in the current of time, but just barely, on its edges, taking it all in. In this book group, we’ll read and discuss 10 walk poems by 10 contemporary poets through the lens of these ideas and we’ll put to the test Solnit’s take on walking, as well as the famous idea attributed to Saint Augustine that––solvitur ambulando––it is solved by walking. (Poems will be provided to participants of the group.) |
Kevin Varrone is an avid walker and the author of the recent chapbooks How to Count to Ten and Redemption Center, as well as three full-length collections, most recently, Box Score: An Autobiography.
The group starts on March 13 so sign up soon!
