Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Kelly


This poem illustrates that a poem can be read in many different ways (even more than normal poems do) because the format is so different. The format forces the reader to make decisions about how they want to read the poem and what they’ll take away from the poem. The poem is in the format of a map, and the reader chooses the path they have to take.


Michael Basinski - City of Webs    http://www.ubu.com/contemp/basinski/webs.html

This poem feels like the internet and chaos. Though it’d be hard to read this poem out loud, it translates to the reader very easily, because we are living in the digital age. Though this poem doesn’t mean one specific concrete thing, if the reader uses the internet, then they understand the poem.



This poem feels like a Christmas ornament, but it also tells a story. The words feel like the translation of the bars of sound, and they add more to the poem, than if it had just been the sound bars. The sound bars and the text work well together, and feel like they belong together.


Charles Bernstein & Susan Bee – Disfrutelos  http://www.ubu.com/contemp/bernstein/Disfrutelos_Bee-Bernstein_c1977.pdf

This is playful and even though some of it isn’t actual words, it still translates a playful feeling to the reader. It feels as if language has fallen apart but Bernstein and Bee are using that to their advantage. It feels like they made up a language, but it’s also a universal thing that anyone can understand.


David Cammack – wwwdotcom     http://www.ubu.com/contemp/cammack/wwwdotcom.swf

I love websites that are a single page and that’s all they are and they don’t have any other links or pages or anything. They are their own singular thing and they are standing alone. I love the finality of it, and I love the idea of being entertained by a singular page and not having to go any further. Also, the pacing is fantastic.


Claude Closky - The First Thousand Numbers Classified in Alphabetical Order    http://ubu.com/concept/Claude_Closky_1000.pdf

The fact that someone took the time to alphabetize a thousand numbers is amazing. It’s relatable and it makes sense, because numbers can become such a neurotic thing. A poem about numbers would already be neurotic but by turning the entire poem into alphabetized numbers, it takes it to a level that no one would expect it to be at.


Craig Dworkin - Legion (II)     http://www.ubu.com/contemp/dworkin/dworkin_legion.pdf

I love that these are all declarative statements and answers to questions that I don’t get to see. I would love to hear this read out loud (I’d love to read it out loud) and I like imagining the side of the conversation that isn’t present.


Elson Froes – Box      http://www.ubu.com/contemp/froes/froes01.html

This poem is saying different things but they are all the same thing. Empty box is the end of something, the end of your life could be described as an empty box. Then all the words collapse onto each other, which is how the end of life could feel. The author is saying the exact same thing through multiple channels.


Steve Giasson – II              http://ubu.com/ubu/unpub/Unpub_056_Giasson.pdf

This is fantastic because it takes normal internet things and lumps them all together. By publishing them in this way, it gives them more importance, but then at the same time, it puts them all on the same level. They all become noise when they’re presented as one giant lump paragraph. But they are just noise, because youtube comments are trivial and stupid.


Vincent Katz - Shopping For Oliver’s Chili                 http://ubu.com/ubu/unpub/Unpub_041_Katz.pdf


I love this because I have kept receipts before and thought about turning them into poems. Some receipts are poems. All language that is presented in a format can be a poem.

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