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Somatic Poetics

Concept
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Poetry focused on the body, physical sensation, and the experience of embodiment

Detailed Definition
Somatic Poetics is an approach to poetry that emphasizes the body as both subject and medium of poetic expression, focusing on how language can evoke, enact, or interrogate physical sensation, movement, breath, and embodiment; drawing from phenomenology, neuroscience, and performance theory, somatic poetics challenges purely cognitive or symbolic readings by foregrounding visceral experience—such as poems that mimic heartbeat rhythms, use tactile imagery, or explore trauma through fragmented syntax—thereby asserting that poetic meaning is not just interpreted but felt in the reader’s own corporeal response.
Example
Example in poetry:
Somatic Poetics: "My spine hums your name in vertebrae-song"; "Grief sits heavy in my diaphragm"; "Fingertips remember your skin’s map"; "Tears salt my tongue—body keeps score"
Additional Notes
Somatic Poetics emphasizes body's role in composition and reception, physical awareness in writing. Related to respiratory verse and performance poetry. Theory connects soma to textual production. Study Charles Olson's projective verse.
Also Known As
Body poetics Embodied verse Physical poetry Corporeal aesthetics
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