How To Do The 3:15 Poetry Experiment

HOW TO DO THE 3:15 EXPERIMENT:

Register here. Join our facebook group.

* Begin at 3:15 AM on August 1st (so set your alarms on JULY 31) . Continue each day until August 31.
* You may write any length, style, form, content, voice, rhythm, etc.
* DO NOT EDIT your work. This is raw stuff, baby. That’s part of the experiment. You are welcome to edit, collage, break apart the poems later for whatever purpose you choose, but please SHARE THE RAW STUFF with the rest of the group here or on the website once the experiment is over.
* (Optional) Do not read what you have written until the month is over, except to skim the work to make sure everything is legible.

TIPS: Use an easy writing pen. If you use a felt tip pen beware ink stains on your bed as many a poet has fallen asleep in the middle of writing. If you can help it, don’t even get out of bed! The point is to ride that dream state, that precarious point between sleeping and waking and sleeping.

More tips and examples:

How To Write at 3:15 (a YouTube video)
Jasmine and Jaguar (a 3:15 poem made into a YouTube)

For this week’s Poetry Train, here’sa 315 Experiment Poem from August 6, 2006:

How to Write at 3:15am

Seems like a simple process
you wake up you write

Instead
you set the alarm for 315 you sleep
you wake up–you find your notebook–your pen
you write

But really there’s more to it.

You have to have some light
but not too much.

If you have
moonlight, no
trees, windows, the
angle of light
well then
there you go

If your light bulb has gone out
on your bedside table
you must replace it

If the bulb has too many watts & melts
a hole in the lampshade
you must put the curtain
in front of the bulb
lest the editor be awakened
careful don’t burn them up too

You must write and not look
too closely at the dust bunnies
on the wall. Don’t reach + check
to see if they are, indeed
dust bunnies. You don’t want to know.
You are after all
a writer at 315 and not a dust bunny exterminator

If you have a child sleeping
in the next room with you, you will
have to check on the child
make sure he or she is
sleeping, had blankets.
You will likely do this more
than once especially if the
curtain is insufficient
in blocking the light.
You may need to sing
the doggy song. More
than once.

You may have to worry about
a snuffly nose whether it’s
2 year molars finally coming in,
what kind of a bad dream
whether you should try to tuck
in the blankets or not.

If you went to a wedding
the previous day
and drank a little too much
you may need some water
you may need to write about
the wedding

You will
need to pee. This should
be done as quickly as
possible. No dawdling
on the toilet. Writing
at 315 is about
writing at 315 not
thinking about
writing at 315 &
if you’re doing the
experiment “right”
by the time you get
back to your notebook
you will have forgotten
what you were going
to write about.
better just to meditate
on the pee and why
the toilet seat is all wet

If you rub your lover’s
feet with yours for luck
when you climb back into bed
be gentle. Don’t wake them.
They will either distract
you from your writing
or be mad.

Before you write, you will need
to remember what day it is.
and the date. You don’t
want to try to go back later
& figure it out.

Always keep in mind that
as soon as you finish
writing you get to go
back to sleep.
Also if you stay up too long
your stomach will wakeup.