Poiesis

Vyvyane Loh MD poises
Photograph by © Gulnara Niaz

Poiesis: The act of Making (from the Greek, poiein); to bring forth into being something that was non-existent; to transform; whence arises the word ‘poetry’.

Medical terminology uses poiesis as a suffix to denote the making or formation of tissues/cells in the body (e.g. hematopoiesis)

In Art, poiesis is the creative act, Heidegger’s emergence from the void, that threshold trembling into form. Plato vs. Aristotle: Did poiesis beget physis? Was poiesis begotten of physis?

What interests me is not just the thing made but the process of making. Creation can be thought of as a series of decisions. It is the deliberate embodiment of meaning in Form which we call Art. This page is devoted to exploring that process.

  • Near is, and difficult to grasp

    April is National Poetry Month. I woke up on April 2nd and that was my first thought. My second thought was, what poem should I feature in my newsletter? Without prompting, Hölderlin’s Patmos came to mind. Hölderlin??? I hadn’t read him in years. I tried to think of another poem but could not shake Patmos […]

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  • Basho & Poetic Forms on Social Media

    My first encounters with social media! (A real education!)

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  • Making the Podcast Theme Music

    Initial notes (pun intended!): Birth –> Music (Life) –> Death (This I drew as a cycle originally, like the TCA Cycle or the Ouroboros) Thanks to Tony Modeste for music production!

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