BRAIN STORMING

Silent Brain Storming Technique (SBS)
Multiple Mind Conferencing (MMC) or Kaleidoscope Brain Storming (KBS)

"Romantic interplay between silence and interaction. Heavenly marriage of thesis and antithesis" - Dr. Murthy's Secret Whispers

KRS Murthy (Copy Right 1996)

Note: THIS TECHNIQUE IS APPLICABLE TO ANY TOPIC OF YOUR CHOICE, AND ANY FORUM TO INCLUDE WEB BASED IMPLEMENTATION

(I am trying to implement this technique to "Talk back to Veda Vyasa" and "Talk back to Shakespeare". Please let me know if anyone one wants to implement it in other application environments)

Have you attended any brain storming sessions in your life? The sessions are normally run by a facilitator, who introduces the purpose of the session to the participants, explains the ground rules and coordinates the process. A note taker or scribe may be used to document all the ideas generated in the session. Generally, the session is open to any ideas. Important guideline is that no idea is too simple, stupid or wild.

I am presenting a new approach to the brain storming process, and also indicate some potential variations to the approach. At present, I have termed it as Silent Brain Storming or Mind Conferencing, even though the process is not completely silent. People who know my other research works may recognize the basic theme and approach. I call it Special Interplay Between Thesis And Antithesis. I have developed a novel paradigm in literature using this general theme. My approach makes efficient use of silence and communication interleaved in the brain storming session. Various degrees and modes of silence and communication are used as effective tools in this approach. My approach is based on the power of silence and especially its power as a supplement to communication oriented parts of the session.

My approach may seem anti-thematic at the first glance. However, you may recognize that my intention is to make the brain storming process holistic, by exploiting the different modes and degrees of silence, absence of communication and a variety of communication and interaction.

First Idea Generation Session

The session would start with a facilitator detailing the process steps used for the particular session. The session is conducted in a normal fashion with the participants speaking out their ideas in a round robin or random fashion for some duration. The facilitator can choose any format for this session. There are numerous brainstorming session techniques and format in use. It is a good idea to pick one comfortable for the facilitator and the participants.

Invoking the Silent Brain Storming Session

The facilitator or one of the assistants rings a bell. The guidelines of the Silent Brain Storming process would require for the participants to stop talking, and quickly get to the silent part of the session. In the silent mode the participants are required to come of up with more ideas, but not speak it out. They can write out the ideas. In addition, the participants would have to start guessing the ideas that others may be getting and writing. They may guess the ideas of their colleagues by name one at a time. For example, if the participants are A, B, C, D, E, F and G, then A would not only write his / her idea, but also guess what B, C, D, E, F, and G may have as their ideas. A would do this in a deep thinking process, based on the way others answered during the speaking part of the session. A would have to guess the way Bs mind works to make the best possible guess. A would have to almost think like B to do this effectively. Similarly, A would have to start thinking of the way all other colleagues may think, based on his / her mental model of others. A would also write out the guesses in a list against each of the other participants.

Please understand that all of them would be doing this simultaneously. After a reasonable time duration of this silent mode, the bell rings again indicating that the participants end the silent mode and get back to the second speaking session.

Presentation Session

In this session, each of them reads their own ideas, and also their best guesses of the ideas for others. The presentation made by A would look like the following:

· Ideas generated by A
· Guess of ideas of B
· Guess of ideas of C
· Guess of ideas of D
· Guess of ideas of E
· Guess of ideas of F
· Guess of ideas of G

During As presentation, others simply listen. Similarly, all the colleagues give their presentations. Discussions may not be done during the presentations.

Discussion Session

The presentations are followed by a detailed discussion session. In this session, the participants may discuss why and how they guessed about others. Each participant can also comment on the guesses of the other participants, and validate or clarify. The highlights and conclusions resulting from discussion could be scribed. The individual participants could also make their own notes. For example, their personal notes may contain their mental models and appropriate revisions of the creative thinking process of others.

Continuing Silent and Speaking Sessions

The successive sessions would repeat the session sequence already used. However, in the second and subsequent silent sessions, the participants are required to improve their guesses. It is very important to note that in these silent sessions each one will be thinking into deeper levels of others thinking. For example, the following increasing complexities of thinking would result:

· B would be thinking of his / her own ideas
· B would also be thinking of what A, C, D, E, F and G are thinking
· B would also be thinking of what A is thinking of B, C, D, E F and G.

Similar thinking complexities would be in all participants. This is like the participants minds acting as mirrors creating multiple reflections of each other. It is like a Kaleidoscope conferencing of the minds. Please note that the number of ideas generated would be many times more than done in any other normal brainstorming techniques, very much like the few small objects inside the Kaleidoscope giving rise to wonderful arrays and patterns. We could also call this technique Kaleidoscope Brain Storming (KBS).

After few successive and successful sessions a successive convergence and cross-fertilization would lead to an asymptotic approximation of their thinking process. Most importantly, they may not need to be talking to each other for their minds to be conferencing with each other. In fact, they can be as far geographically apart as they need to be for their routine life, but still efficiently conference with each other.

The most important aspect is the discipline developed by my silent brainstorming paradigm. Regular teams can be formed to practice this technique. It is a good idea for the team members to branch of and form new groups with other new members. It is also a good idea to have new members or visitors to the KBS team inducted routinely. Diversity of backgrounds is the key to freshness of ideas. True diversity in gender, age, ethnic background, educational levels, race, and personality types will ensure a fertile KBS team. It is like any ecological system. Stability of the KBS team ecology is good, but aberrations and perturbations only guarantee long-term growth.

POETRY

Twin Poems

This genre is an invention of KRS Murthy

This poetic genre has two poems that can be written side-by-side. The two poems could carry similar themes. The poems may compliment each other. Here are some ideas to make the twin poems interesting:

One person may write both poems. Two cooperating poets may also write the poems. In this case, one poet may write on poem, while the cooperating poet may write its twin poem. The poets may decide to write both poems together. The twin poems do not have to be born at the same time. One poem may be written first, where as its twin may be written by the same poet or another poet at a later time. However, the form-factor of the original poem and its later born twin should be similar. Just two or more poems on similar themes may not belong to the genre of twin poems. Preferably there should be a line-by-line or stanza-by-stanza similarity in their form factor. However, slight variation may be acceptable, in which case they may be called un-identical twin poems.

For clarification, we may not categorize the two poems written on the London Bridge by Wordsworth and Longfellow as twin poems. These poems had the same focus on the London Bridge. There are no other similarities in form factor. They are more like cousin poems or sibling poems.

The poems may use similar sounding words. Homonyms may be ideal. Other rhyming words would also be OK. One can use a variety of rhyme techniques to include end rhyme, internal rhyme and beginning rhyme.

The most important thing is to have twin themes. Examples of twin themes are:

v Poems about very similar cities

The cities may be similar in population, culture, historical events, geography, natural richness or any structure. Twin poems can be written on the following cities:

q New York and Chicago. Any metropolises can be chosen to include
q Tokyo and New York
q Hong Kong and Taiwan
q Bombay and New York
q England and any New England city in USA
q Venice and Bangkok
q Minneapolis and St Paul

v Poems on similar people

The people may be similar in personality, looks, background and accomplishments, or any other commonality drawn up by the poet. Twin poems can be written for the following combination of people who have similar background and accomplishments:

q Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela
q Gandhi and Nelson Mandela
q Kennedy and Clinton
q Hitler and Saddam Hussein

v Poems on story characters

One can conceive of twin poems written on two (or more) characters in stories, mythology, or even cartoons / comics. Examples are:

q Lava and Kusha (in the Hindu mythology Ramayana. These were twin sons of the hero Rama)
q Arjuna and Karna or Duryodhana and Dushyasana (brothers in the Hindu epic Mahabharatha)
q You may even write twin poems on two characters from different mythologies, even of totally different cultures.


v Poems about similar rivers: The rivers may have many common qualities like shape, flow, origin, or terrain.

v Poems about similar birds, animals, forests and any thing in nature are other examples.

v Twin poem genre can create a lot of opportunities for poets who want to make their mark in the history of literature. Poetry written by many famous poets provides opportunity to write twin poems. If someone chose poems by famous English poets like Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, William Blake, Lord Byron, and also many modern poets, and then wrote twin poems for them, they can be read side by side. It also gives a challenge to the current poets and an outlet to their creative talents. Imagine your twin poem you would write for the immortal poets of literature.

v Twin poems are not limited to English. Any language of the world would have opportunities for twin poems. Think of Pablo Neruda in Spanish, some of the great Sufi poets, famous Urdu poets, the unparalleled Sanskrit poets, and the wealth of Chine and Japanese poets. It is mind boggling to think of the myriads of doors that Twin Poem genre can bring to poets in the future. It is a great experience to novices, amateurs and veteran poets alike.

v If one or more cooperating poets were to write both of the twin poems at the same, they may choose to write a line for one poem, and write the corresponding twin line at the same time, thus creating the twin poems line by line. Alternatively, this can be done stanza-by-stanza or for sections or even complete poem.

v Twin poems can be composed by two cooperating poets in a poetry slam. This extempore approach could also be good for two groups of poets, with the groups competing with each other. The gray matter will get a lot of action in such events.

v There is a discipline in Indian poetic and scholarly tradition called Ashtaavadhaana (Eight challenging experts in the panel) and Shathaavadhana (Hundred challenging experts in the panel). Avadhaana (Sanskrit) means attention. In this tradition, specially gifted scholars respond to a panel of experts from many subject areas with all in the panel allowed to ask any question any time. Poetry is always one of the subjects. The poetry expert in the panel would be asking the scholar on the stage to compose a poem, giving challenging conditions. For example, the first one may be giving a subject to start composing the poem. Intermittently, additional conditions / restrictions may include forbidding particular letters, words, concepts or the format. Indian poetry has numerous meters and forms, probably more than any language in the world. Twin poem challenge would be a good addition in these types of events.

v The poetic tradition really started in Sanskrit with greatest poets of all time like Veda Vyaasa, Vaalmeeki and Kalidaasa. Mahabharatha is the longest poetry ever composed in the history. No human being may surpass the superhuman poetic skills of this poet for many millenniums in the future! Surprisingly, even these poets did not develop the concepts of twin poems. They probably decided to leave this idea to be developed after few millenniums by a very ordinary man like me. May these great poets be blessed with immortality, as I was the fortunate person to develop this concept!

HOW TO READ TWIN POEMS?

We can employ many techniques to present twin poems in a public poetry reading. Actual techniques to be selected may depend on the available readers and more importantly the audience. One poem may be read by a man, where as its twin can be read by another man to show different voices. Two women may also read the twin poems. Man-woman combination may also work well.

The lines of the two twin poems may be read alternately. For example, one reader reads the first line of one poem, and the second reader responds by reading the corresponding lines of its twin poem. This alternating style helps the readers appreciate the similarity between the poems, while admiring the difference in presentation in its twin poem.

Sometimes the single lines of the poems may not have enough content for the audience to completely appreciate the twin poems. In such cases, stanza comparison can be provided to the audiences by reading stanzas alternately, instead of lines. In this approach, the stanzas read at a time alternately in the two twin poems, so that the audience might appreciate the meanings of the complete stanzas.

The examples I have given are limited to what I thought of quickly. Please feel free to suggest.

I wanted to quickly place the basic idea on the web and also send them to my poet friends and poetry enthusiasts. I am documenting more ideas on twin poems. I will send another version shortly with more ideas documented.

POEM IN POEM
KRS Murthy

Poem in a poem or is it a poem around a poem!
(The poem in a poem concept and techniques were developed by KRS Murthy on Jan 12, 2001)

This form of poetry will have one or more poems inside a longer poem completely embedded and integrated in the combination. For example, a haiku may be embedded in a longer poem. When the complete poem is read, it would look like a monolithic poem, where as the Haiku may be independently read with complete meaning. The Haiku may be in the beginning, middle or at the end. The poem may have more than one poem integrated inside it. In general, the main poem may have a poem inside it, with another smaller poem inside it. The main poem may be skillfully composed with, for example, 10 lines, where as the lines 2 through 8 may be an independent poem, whereas lines 5 through 9 may be another independent poem.

The poems inside the main poem may need not necessarily start from beginning of a line, but just start from middle of the line, and end at the middle of a line. The poem inside may also be made of chosen lines, not necessarily made up of contiguous order.

The embedded poem in a larger poem may not necessarily be readable in linear, continuous and progressive ways. A combination of lines, phrases and words may be the embedded poem. The lines could be read in reverse, or any nonlinear order.

Techniques for composing poem in a poem

Instead of thinking of a poem in a poem, one can approach the task as wrapping a poem to create a longer poem.

One can take a poem and write a poem around it to wrap it around and to create the main poem. It would be interesting if the wrapping poem can completely change the theme, mood, meaning, and genre of the poem.

One can take two or more poems and wrap them around to create the total poem.

A simple way is to take a poem and continue it to make it longer. A skillful poet may be able to create unexpected and exceptional effect in wrapping the poem including the theme, mood and genre.

When a poem is wrapped around a normal poem could be converted into an absurd poem. Similarly, an absurd poem may be able to converted into a poem with deep meaning and theme by a skilled poet.

Positive statements could be converted into negative statements. Assertive statements could be converted into interrogatory or exclamatory statements.

Poetic Metamorphosis

In this technique, a poem is taken, and with very little change, modified to create a metamorphic poem to produce a very different theme, meaning or mood.

The change could be addition, deletion, substitution, interchange or exchange of words, phrases or lines of the poem.

Creative Ideas in Poetry

Absurd / Nonsense Poetry With and without any serious meaning

¨ Poetry mania - All forms or writing, everywhere - Poetry invasion Poetry invades humans and human life. Dictatorship poetry:

o Bills, checks, note pads, notices, napkins, receipts, fortune cookie (not just in Chinese restaurants)
o Menu poetry in restaurants - recipe or ingredients in poetic format
o Invoices, flow charts, view graphs, bill boards, rock carving, graffiti
o Buses, trains, airports - Poetry reading while people are waiting for flights, eating in airport restaurants
o Airplanes - poetry reading on the airplane in flight done by the air hostesses
o TV, film credits, titles,
o Bathroom tissue
o Poetry tattoos

¨ Poetry diagrams or diagram poetry
¨ Picture poetry, picture and poetry Art work or photo
¨ Poetry in dance, Dance poetry, Poetry and dance combination
¨ Poetry and mime, mime poetry, poetry and mime combination
¨ Poetry for the deaf Sign language poetry Combined with regular reading
¨ Slow dose poetry Only one line, stanza or word per day, hour, week Sent on internet, read on television or in other poetry reading forums
¨ Marriage invitation poetry other invitations, greeting cards
¨ Business note poetry Business notes sent to colleagues, customers and suppliers al in complete or part poetic form
¨ Opposite statements Different lines, phrases or stanzas carry opposite meaning from each other
¨ Alternatives words, phrases, lines, stanzas
¨ Intentional replacements Intentional replacements of words, phrases or stanzas to create a different or specially intended poetic meaning
¨ Intentional misspelling - Intentional misspelling of words, phrases or stanzas to create a different or specially intended poetic meaning
¨ Tree chart poetry The words, phrases or stanzas arranged in a tree chart specially useful for techniques using opposites, replacements and misspelling.
¨ Branch poetry Useful in small tree poetry or flow chart poetry.
¨ Many of these techniques can be effectively implemented using branching to a different part of the page, different page or even different web site using the world wide web. HTML and XML type of languages can be very effectively used for these techniques.

¨ Plato said . Aristotle said .. Lincoln said. Bernard Shaw said .. and What I say about it.

¨ Equation Poetry One example of equation poetry is using the semblance of simultaneous equations. Simultaneous equations come in pair. We may be able to use expressions in place of equations. The poem could start with a preamble as needed. The two equation / expression type lines would follow. These lines would further be followed by some type of discussion similar to solving the equations. The poem could end with concluding lines after solving the topic, and an additional set of post amble lines.

¨ Theorem Poems The theorem poems would follow the elements of a mathematical / geometry theorems. Presentation, argument, conclusion, and corollaries.


Reading Techniques

¨ One One person reads the complete poem. One person reads in a variety of voices (men, women, kids, cartoons, animal), intonations, dictions, voice modulations, accents
¨ Two Two people read Can be a combination of men, women, kids - each read a word, phrase, line or stanza
¨ Few small groups like three or four - each read a word, phrase, line or stanza
¨ Groups larger groups each read a word, phrase, line or stanza
¨ Dialogue format Two or more people read, but in a dialogue mode This technique requires poems with dialogues
¨ Original and translation Both original and translation are read by one or more people
¨ Original and supplementation Original is supplemented with words, phrases, lines and stanzas. The supplementation should be creative and interesting, as well as add a new poetic perspective.
¨ Original and different re-compositions - Original poem is recomposed with words, phrases, lines and stanzas. Mostly it is a complete re-composition keeping the theme. It is as if a new poet would write the same poem in place of the original poem. The re-composition should be creative and interesting, as well as add a new poetic perspective.
¨ Alternative versions by the same poet The same poem can be supplemented or recomposed by the original poet.