Conference Report: Therapy & Experimental Poetry Symposium, Birkbeck, University of London, 28th September 2019

Abstract

During and following the symposium the concepts of ‘therapy’ and ‘experimental poetry’ were sites for questioning and exploration. Months into the Covid-19 pandemic the practises of therapy and experimental poetry as sites of interpersonal relationships which make these practices possible are emphasised. Relationships and their distance or absence are pressure points registering the micro and macro individual and societal challenges Covid-19 has forced into focus, even for those who previously turned away from the challenges of social injustices. If therapy and experimental poetry, therapies and poetries, arise in the crucible of relationships, what is happening to these relationships during this pandemic? At the Therapy and Experimental Poetry Symposium in September 2019, Scott Thurston advanced the argument that experimental poetries are a political subculture. How are these politics enacted towards each other during the unfolding societal consequences of Covid-19? The questions and ideas circulating before and after this symposium are magnified by global attention focusing on how the politics of care are enacted not only for ourselves but also for each other.