Poetry Reading as a Gestalt event! | Gestalt Centre Belfast

Poetry Reading as a Gestalt event: Seán Gaffney's Four Suites!

(photo: The peaks of Ushba in the Caucasus, courtesy of Liz Joudro)

The reading organised by GCB on 10 October 2021 was unusual in several respects.

It took place not in a public venue or a bookstore, but on Zoom, a mode of meeting we have had to get used to in this pandemic. And so it enabled participants to gather from places far and wide, Ireland of course, but also England, the US, Norway, Azerbaijan, people whose mother tongue was English, but also French, Polish, Azeri... If we omitted some, please email and and let us know!

The poet's assertion that a poem is read differently by each reader, and understood in ways the poet had not imagined, led to an experiment in which Seán asked participants to volunteer to read one of his poems, from an earlier suite, 'Aspects of Ageing', entitled 'In No Man's Land':

How strange it is how strange this being

Here not there there where I have and would have been at those

Conferences and gatherings collegial meals and evening tête a têtes

not

Now nor ever again there nor here much longer anyway and

Already dead for some I sense as e-mails criss-crossed cyber space and

Filled my screen with greetings for each other and those

Well-laid plans for meetings and then

Counting off the seatings and the

Limitations of my age and ailments anyway somewhat known it seems

I’m

Gently not included and this my after death experience before my

actual

Death’s oblivion and obliviousness the vacuum of our parting

Now already already now in this my no man’s land

The readers produced indeed new versions of the poem, each with their own prosody!

The discussion included questions of styles and of sources of inspiration, but most of all, people connected with the text and each other in a way made possible by art. With their permission, we would like to share some of the participants' comments, and give them the last word, with the hope you will join us in our next event.

The readers could not have been more different, in rythm, in emotionality.

“It was truly heart-warming to spend time immersed in the poetry, and poetic aspects, of Sean’s recent writing. As a gestalt practitioner, I experienced anew Sean’s deep respect for the framing and phrasing of each individual, our unique subjectivity, as he encouraged us, as participants, to read aloud the words he had written. This ’spaciousness” and support for personal experience and the diversity this delivers to a field is, for me, one of the hallmarks of a Gestalt approach. Thank you so much for the welcoming, warm environment you offered to support the sharing.” (Sally Denham-Vaughan)

“Sean Gaffney’s approach to poetry contains aspects of Gestalt Therapy theory particularly with respect to his inclination in inviting the reader to become part of the poetic experience itself. Such an orientation allows for a sense of heightened intimacy in the evolving contact between the reader and the poet. In the more traditional sense of experimental Gestalt psychology, what this collaboration between poet and reader leads to is the formation of new, more novel gestalts that are truly qualitatively larger than the sum of their individual parts.” (Jack Aylward)

“Through that poetry reading I made a connection with my own relational experiences / passions and their profound influence on my being as a person, and a gestaltist. It was clear to me that inspiration came from engaging myself in listening to Seán’s poem and his intimate sharing about his muse with attachment to psychotherapy, poetry, photography, and international background. Having a chance to explore it in a dialogue with Seán I re-discovered art of doing rather than thinking, therefore it was a felt experience and a poetic, personal reminiscence within such a important quality of being present and available for each other while speaking to each other. A very precious moment!” (Karolina Burda)

“Obviously I am not a Gestalt practitioner but I would just like to say that as a visual artist I really enjoyed Seán's poetry and it's exploration of borders and boundaries and the phenomenon of things. It raises an interesting interplay between the written word and visual art whether it be photography, or the exploration of outer and inner worlds through drawing and painting. It was wonderful to meet Seán and to hear his poetry!“ (Julie Murphy)