Feb
28
Not a Word to Write Tonight
ecr. l'inf.
3
Feb
27
Not Interpreting "Antipodean Holiday"
After a night of shoveling a heavy wet snow the color of sunlight and piling it in cairn-like beacons around my house, through my yard, and behind and beside my house, I didn't have much ambition for writing, so I was glad to find in my inbox another quizzical mathematical construction from π.o., the engagingly cryptic visual and mathematical poet from Australia.
Feb
26
A Visual Poem
is a
comic
is a
word
is a
view
is a
dimension
is a
line
is a
desire
is a
concern
is a
release
is a
return
is a
contemplation
is a
hope
is a
wish
is a
wonder
is a
trying
is a
failure
is a
sack
is a
bowl
is a
literature
is a
dance
is a
poem
is a
light
is a
darknesss
is a
night
is a
morning
is a
route
is a
destination
is a
belief
is a
quiescence
is a
tirade
is a
charade
is a
twister
is a
hurricane
is a
wind
is a
winding
is a
swind
comic
is a
word
is a
view
is a
dimension
is a
line
is a
desire
is a
concern
is a
release
is a
return
is a
contemplation
is a
hope
is a
wish
is a
wonder
is a
trying
is a
failure
is a
sack
is a
bowl
is a
literature
is a
dance
is a
poem
is a
light
is a
darknesss
is a
night
is a
morning
is a
route
is a
destination
is a
belief
is a
quiescence
is a
tirade
is a
charade
is a
twister
is a
hurricane
is a
wind
is a
winding
is a
swind
Feb
25
sunmoonsong
The stage begins with a blue background, the usual four chairs and four music stands for the quartet, and a garden of metal stems (each tipped by a light). Growing out of music stands are other stems sensitive to movement, and if a musician waves his hand over it it lights up and makes a sound.
That is part of the music. As are the visuals that project on the walls behind the players. As is the chorus which crouches in the dark until its allotted time.
That is part of the music. As are the visuals that project on the walls behind the players. As is the chorus which crouches in the dark until its allotted time.
Feb
24
A Dozen Reasons to Speak
I have never recorded any of the extemporaneous sound poems I sing to myself or at readings, so today I drove to Housatonic, Massachusetts, getting unreasonably lost on the way, to record a set of these poems for something like posterity. Ensconced in a comfortable and insulated corner of my friend Andy Potter’s attic, and surrounded by cups of sweet and milky black tea and little sugar cookies, I began inventing sound poems, and Andy kept taping them.
Feb
23
The Music We Heard before the 10:59 Train out of Poughkeepsie
First attempt:
We ate dinner at Mahoney’s, a restaurant beside the Poughkeepsie train station, which was convenient since that’s where we picked up Erin, and which was appropriate since we had driven the 90 minutes to attend a concert by Flogging Molly, a band that plays what I call punk-tinged Irish music.
Second attempt:
We couldn’t find The Chance.
We ate dinner at Mahoney’s, a restaurant beside the Poughkeepsie train station, which was convenient since that’s where we picked up Erin, and which was appropriate since we had driven the 90 minutes to attend a concert by Flogging Molly, a band that plays what I call punk-tinged Irish music.
Second attempt:
We couldn’t find The Chance.
Feb
22
Catechism of Visual Poetry Doctrine: Faith
1. Who made visual poetry?
At first, the poet made visual poetry. After a time, the visual poet made visual poetry. In these days of ours, everyone makes visual poetry: the visual poet, the poet, the artist, the typographer, the bricklayer.
2. Why did the visual poet make the visual poem?
The visual poet made the visual poem to amuse you, to intrigue you, to make you question the essence of meaning, to make you happy with the visual poem now in this world and forever in the next.
3.
At first, the poet made visual poetry. After a time, the visual poet made visual poetry. In these days of ours, everyone makes visual poetry: the visual poet, the poet, the artist, the typographer, the bricklayer.
2. Why did the visual poet make the visual poem?
The visual poet made the visual poem to amuse you, to intrigue you, to make you question the essence of meaning, to make you happy with the visual poem now in this world and forever in the next.
3.
Feb
21
therefore, moonness
The moon, our faithful reflection, changes varyingly and predictably, providing us with differing views of its craggy face. Tonight, with the earth's shadow slowly occluding it, the moon became a cookie with a bite taken out of it, a hazy disc in the sky, a thin crescent facing left, returning only later to its circular whole, a piercing hole through the darkness. At one point the moon above my house sat within a triangle of points (the symbol for "therefore").
Feb
20
simplicity
On the train back from New York City tonight—still groggy from too many hours awake, too much food, and too much activity—I finally finished reading an exceedingly slender volume of prose, John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life. The book represents Maeda’s “struggle to understand the meaning of life as a humanist technologist,” an honorable goal well considered by a seemingly honorable man.
Feb
19
Stitching Words
Wellington Hotel, Room 81, New York, New York
Only last night, my daughter Erin told me that her friend Anna wanted to cross-stitch a visual poem of mine, no particular one, and sell the results online. Since I’ve wanted to do a cross-stitch visual poem (inspired by Maria Damon’s work and the knitpoem Nancy manifest for me years ago), I thought this a great idea and encouraged Erin to encourage Anna.
Only last night, my daughter Erin told me that her friend Anna wanted to cross-stitch a visual poem of mine, no particular one, and sell the results online. Since I’ve wanted to do a cross-stitch visual poem (inspired by Maria Damon’s work and the knitpoem Nancy manifest for me years ago), I thought this a great idea and encouraged Erin to encourage Anna.
