On August 26 at the Paramount Center for the Arts Theatre, audience members heard the debut of a new poem. I (Lyricality’s founder and director, Tracy Rittmueller) was honored to be able to read this collaborative communal work, which was sponsored in part by Bill and Linda Henrichs and Gate City Bank.
This article discusses the history of collaborative communal poetry, the general and specific artistic process involved in making this commemorative poem, names the collaborators, and shares a dream for preserving this history-making commission.
We at Lyricality are grateful to the Paramount for inviting us to foster the art of empathy through poetry, and to share the rich cultural resource found in the many poets, writers, and artists who call central Minnesota home.
During the summer of 2021, 15 central Minnesota writers and artists collaborated and contributed to the making of Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become.
“The poem is wonderfully compelling in its exposition, questioning, and imagery,” remarked Bob Johnson, Executive Director of the Paramount. “Cleary the contributions of others added to the impact of the final product.”
What is Collaborative Communal Poetry?
Collaborative Communal Poetry is a process that promotes community inclusion, personal power, self-expression, and life fulfillment. The heart of this process is its emphasis on inclusion. This is not a competition; we do not prefer one person’s contribution over anyone else’s. Everyone who choses to participate is represented in the final work because we truly value everyone for their unique gifts and expressions.
I (Tracy Rittmueller) developed the collaborative communal poetry process in 2014-2015, when I worked with staff and clients of West Bay Residential Services in Rhode Island to create low cost programming for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We published a book, Thursdays at 2: poems to gladden the heart, and made a video of the process.
To create collaborative communal poetry, a recording/facilitating poet collects phrases offered by participants and then uses the gathered words to make a new poem.
I later tested and refined this process with SomaliAmerican beginner-level English language learners in 2021 and created a guide for poets and writers who want to use the process with their classes or groups.
What Was the Artistic Process for Creating the Collaborative Communal Poem Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become?
To answer this, I want to discuss artistic process generally and specifically.
Generally: about Artistic Process, or, Creativity 101
The magic of Lyricality is that we are an organization promoting literary artists and an organization committed to enacting important social changes to create a kinder, more inclusive central Minnesota. And both of these arms of our mission are connected by and move from our core strengths: collaboration; and artistic process.
Everything we do, especially our leadership, is collaborative. And in everything we do, especially in our leadership and strategic development meetings, we engage in artistic process. According to the ARTS Action Research website, Artistic process is a unique combination of vision, creativity, intuition, and collaboration balanced with craft, technique, accountability, discipline, and use of time and resources. Artistic process may well be the most effective planning, problem solving, decision-making, relationship-building process available … to anyone.
The power of artistic process resides in THE BALANCE AND COMPLEXITY INHERENT TO CREATIVITY, which mirrors the balance and complexity (diversity) necessary to sustain life. Creativity is also the special sauce needed to make social change movements authentic, which is to say transformative. “The artistic process is a complex multiplicity of processes. It is a consilience, literally a jumping together of beliefs, aesthetic sensibility, personal interactions and cooperation, access to and expenditure of a variety of resources” (ARTS Action Resource).
Artistic process, then, is a cooperative, interactive way of approaching problems, issues, tasks, and communication with the balance and complexity of creativity. And Lyricality exists to bring the benefits of artistic process to our community, beginning with fostering the art of empathy.
Specifically: about Composing the Collaborative Communal Poem Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become
In June, 2021, I sent out a call to central Minnesota writers, asking them to submit up to five poems with themes or references relating to artistic revision, new beginnings, the value of knowing our history and examining our past, healthy / positive processes of change; anniversaries, and/or community / unity. 10 poets responded with a combination of new and previously published poems.
This was the first time I had the privilege of working with practicing poets in this process. Many of them are professional poets with impressive publication credits; all of them have been practicing the art and craft of poetry for years. This particular collaboration moved me away from being what I had previously always been—The Poet. This time around, I enjoyed being something like a jazz ensemble leader, bringing together various musicians and their instruments, allowing them to improvise on a theme, and then arranging those improvisations into a new composition.
To narrow down the theme, I convened a meeting of four collaborators to discuss the six themes we were working with, and scrawled many pages of their sentences and phrases into a large (11” x 14”) sketch book.
To compose the work, I went back and reviewed the submitted poems and fragments, and working by intuition and my personal artistic sensibility, developed across more than 45 years of writing, reading, and geeking out on poetry, I recorded phrases that resonated with our discussion and appeared to be playing off of each other. I wrote those phrases, too, into my large sketch book, making sure I had some lines from each of the contributing poets.
And then I cut everything I had recorded in the sketchbook into scraps and spread those out on the floor and furniture all around me. I practiced a private ritual that I sometimes call invoking the muse and sometimes call prayer, and then I waded through those scraps with an open mind and heart and nearly-naked soul, collecting them in a way that made sense in the moment.
I typed them up in the order I had collected them, went back and added some connecting phrases, and submitted what I had written to the collaborator. They made a few suggestions for changes, and that’s how Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become was born.
Who are the 4 Collaborators on Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become (a collaborative communal poem)?
Sylvia Calderon was raised in a traditional Puerto Rican family. After becoming disabled by Fibromyalgia, she started hearing poetry in her mind, as if from nowhere. She began writing those words down as a way to release bitterness, grow closer to the truth of her inner being, and to honor her writing vibe. These days she regularly shares her ‘whimsical, philosophical poems & inspirations’ on her blog, EmotionalNotions.wordpress.com.
Anisa Hagi-Mohamed is a dedicated mother, wife, teacher, artist and writer. She is the author of My Diasporic Diary, a reflective journal for diaspora people. Currently Anisa is in the process of designing products and publishing books that feature and capture diaspora elements of identity, home, language and culture, and is a Core member of Lyricality’s Leadership Circle.
Hedy Tripp is a St. Cloud elder with the Minnesota Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) and a recent recipient of Central Minnesota Arts Board (CMAB) Artist Career Development grant for her poetry. Hedy is also featured in Lyricality’s quarterly Newsletter, The Lyricality Way.
Janette Yiran is the Dean of students and an EL teacher at St. Cloud Math & Science Academy. She is a Curator of African Arts and leads the Fred Yiran African Arts Day annual celebration and related programming in St. Cloud with a mission to offer their patrons a way of expanding their knowledge and understanding of African arts and cultures.
Who Contributed Lines for Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become?
Bill Meissner is an author and teacher who has published five collections of poetry: American Compass, Learning to Breathe Underwater, The Sleepwalker’s Son, Twin Sons of Different Mirrors, and recently, The Mapmaker’s Dream.
Mary Willette Hughes facilitated Poetry As Therapy for 19 years and published 3 collections: Quilt Pieces, Flight on New Wings, and The Shadow Loom Poems.
Micki Blenkush 2017-2018 fellow in poetry for the Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series program, has published 1 collection, Now We Will Speak in Flowers.
Charles Wm. Preble, 1936-2021 lived in St. Joseph on a nineteenth-century farmstead with his wife, Jana Preble. An artisan, priest, and poet, he published 3 books of poetry with a 4th in process.
Larry Schug lives near a large tamarack bog in St. Wendel Township. He published 8 collections, most recently A Blanket of Raven Feathers, and is working on a 9th.
Mardi Knudson is a member of the Grand View Poets St. Cloud area chapter of the League of Minnesota Poets, and has been writing poems for more than 30 years.
Sandy Bot-Miller a St. Cloud artist and poet, creates imagery from her own inner world, life experiences, and what she observes in the natural world around her.
Delores Dufner, OSB is a member of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph. She has written 266 scripture-based hymn texts published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and China.
Juliana Howard directed and wrote songs for the St. Cloud area children’s choir The Crayons. She now lives in St. Joseph, MN with her husband of 62 years.
Susan Sink is the author of 3 books of poems: The Way of All the Earth; Habits; and H is for Harry. She lives in St. Joseph on 80 acres.
Where can I get a copy of Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become: a collaborative communal poem to honor The Paramount Theatre’s 100th Anniversary (1921-2021)?
Pick up a copy of the poem “Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become” at The Paramount Center for the Arts on West Saint Germaine Street in St. Cloud, MN.
Our dream for preserving this history-making commission
We’re fundraising to create a video that will include all of the contributors and collaborators. As soon as we have raised $2000 to pay the project manager, all of the artists, and the video production team, we’ll get to work creating a beautiful 10-minute film to show the world that central Minnesota is a place where imagination thrives, creativity happens, and diversity, equity, and inclusion are highly valued.
How can I help fund the film production of Listening Back to Imagine Who We Could Become: a collaborative communal poem to honor The Paramount Theatre’s 100th Anniversary (1921-2021)?
Thank you for asking, and for understanding the immense value of art and artistic process in building strong, resilient, creative communities. You can donate to this project to help make our vision for this film into a reality.
or mail your check to Lyricality, 1232 10th Ave NE, Sauk Rapids, MN 56379