Coming Into Light
Christie Valentin-Bati
February 6, 2024
For this workshop we’re writing our own origin stories by interweaving the big myths of the world with our personal lives.
Pre-writing:
Free-write #1: Think of the big myths of the world that you know (Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian). Then free-write a list of images, scenes, and words that pop into your head when you think about these myths. Don’t worry if the words don’t necessarily relate to the myth. Write for 3 minutes straight.
Free-write #2: Think of moments in your life that felt pivotal to your sense of self. Describes these memories and as many memories as quickly as you can for 5 minutes. It is okay to just list of images and not write complete sentences.
Source Material:
- The Book of Gensis by Morgan Parker
Prompt:
Using the word banks created during your free-writes, write your own origin story poem. Braid imagery of myths with memories of your personal life.
Christie Valentin-Bati
Christie Valentin-Bati (she/her) is a poetry MFA candidate and instructor at Columbia College Chicago. She considers herself a multi-genre artist working through writing and photographic mediums. Her work dives into the quotidian, the body, experimentation with hybridity and visual elements of text, and understanding “the uncanny.”