EcoPoetics

3 Credits.

EcoPoetics, derived from the Greek words eco (household) and poiesis (to make), will explore writing and poetry, but also music, visual art, and civic ecology as expressions of relational and sustainable world making. Together, we will investigate definitions of home that include: how home is rooted in the larger ecology of the living world and how the making of place involves the making of relationships in the human and more than human worlds. From explorations into geologic history, to the direct listening of voices within nature and to the poets, musicians, and artists who give voice to nature, we will examine how science can inform and inspire literature, music, and art. Together, we will investigate how memory and intelligence might be found not just in human spheres, but in all of the natural world. Lastly, we will explore the ecological crises as a crises of relationship and how the arts might open a possibility for cultivating new relationships with the natural world.