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.

 

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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:

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

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.”