#ca conrad

we’re all made up of each other

"we loved our united disunity                                        a wild stubborn focus                                        chewing its way out" 

-CA Conrad 

 Good Morning, Internet! 

A (Soma)tic Ritual is something invented by CA Conrad, and they are rituals to get inspired to write poetry. For class, I had to write a few. Enjoy? 

Ask one or both of your parents for a word each--any word that they can think of that is beautiful or ugly. Write this word and every word in this ritual with a marker on your inner wrist and don’t hide it with gloves, sleeves, or bracelets. Let this word be free. Ask a sibling, or someone who feels like a sibling if you have none, for any word that they love more than life. Ask your best friend, a close close friend, for a word that they hate. Ask a distant friend, one you barely talk to, for a word connected to their past, and highlight that you don’t need context for this word. Now ask yourself for a word that connects to your future as you percieve it. 

When someone asks you what these words on your wrist are, explain they are your poetic muse, and now they must gift you with a word they like and then you will add it to the list. Make sure all these words are visible on your wrist and arm (if you ran out of room). Keep these words on your body until you’ve collected all of them, and 24 hours after that. Write down your thoughts about each word at least three times. 

Think more about these words, and establish familial ties with them. Which words should be treated as: mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. aunts, uncles, cousins, sons, daughters, grandmothers, grandfathers and so on and so forth. Treat these words as if they were that part of your family, and take notes about it. 

Now write a poem without using any of these words on your wrist and arm. They’re not allowed in the poem. Instead, use your notes you took at least three times, use their definitions, their origins, and their images, and use the familial ties and the people you encountered in the ritual to create something fantastic.