Taking my poetry students to Yosemite this weekend. These are the exercises:

Exercise #1

Find a spot in which you're completely alone. In twenty minutes or so, describe EVERY SINGLE THING around you, no matter how minute or how big, no matter whether 'natural' or 'human.' The aim here is accuracy, and for you to be as complete and present to all of your senses as possible.

"From inner ear to farthest owls." – Ronald Johnson

Exercise #2

Why write about nature? In the Western Tradition, we speak of ...