Poet Jon Cotner uses fleeting snippets of conversation in public spaces as the basis for his poetry. Caitlin Blanchfield took a walk with Cotner to talk about his process.
"The practice of poetry allows me to tune into the city on a daily basis," says Cotner in this interview:
"Poetry heightens our sense of time - the fleetingness of seconds - because poetry descends to the level of the microsecond. Look, for example, at the haiku poets who attune themselves to the tiniest realities. I think the point of what I'm doing is to encourage people to do their own work, to inhabit their own lives and (...) to wake up as much as possible."
FULL STORY: As Awake As Possible: A Walk with Jon Cotner
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research