Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the 3:15 Experiment

I’m a bit at the eleventh hour here with this invitation (SINCE IT BEGINS TONIGHT), but truly, you could join the experiment at any time. And I wanted to write this invitation especially to those who don’t necessarily fancy themselves to be poets.

Since August 1993, a shifting menagerie of writers has been waking up each night at 3:15 AM for the entire month of August to write. The original idea was:

to discover what connections would be made while writing separately, but together, at the same time for a month while under hypnagogic influences.

The experiment was so intriguing and inspiring it kept growing and morphing. Many writers have come to look forward to it every year. Many have created their own guidelines and experiments within the format. We love this as long as people maintain the point: to write in the hypnopompic/hypnagogic states (between sleeping and waking / waking and sleeping).

Anything posted to any “official” 3:15 publication or website maintains the RAW unedited material. Though many writers choose to publish their edited poems elsewhere. We like that, too.

To Join:

A facebook page to stay in communication during the month:

3:15 Facebook Page

Some samples from years past:

The 3:15 Experiment Website

Though not everyone chooses to post their poems (or even types them out).

And here is a thesis paper written by Gwendolyn Alley on the topic:

The 20th Anniversary of the 3:15 Experiment

My invitation to you comes in the form of a poem.

you don’t have to be a poet

to write poetry

my father built greenhouses

and filled them with orchids

I believe people are meant

to get along with each other

the Indian taxi driver waves

me into my turn

gives me the right

of way      as I cruise

the summer streets on my

hand-me-down bicycle

I stop at the Holy Cross Anglican Church

to write down that line

about my dad’s orchids

before it spills into the road

with my juggled thoughts

of the two cherub-faced Mormon boys

who came to my front door

struggling to respond

when I told them:

Think of the metaphor of the ocean

how we can be drops

yet still disappear

into the One

universal consciousness

before thanking them for their good work

and sending them on their way

tripping tongue-tied through the gate

no, you don’t have to be a poet

to write poetry

you just need to write

yourself

an open door