Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Sam


http://www.ubu.com/historical/saroyan/pages/pages.html
http://www.ubu.com/ethno/poems/09.html
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/piringer_gravity_2012.pdf
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/fuck_you_a_magazine_of_the_arts_1.pdf
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/parr_found_poems_1972.pdf
http://www.ubu.com/contemp/bernstein/veil2.html
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/vp/finch_typewriter_poems_1972.pdf
http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen6A/skyChange.html
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/goldsmith_winter.html
http://www.ubu.com/historical/becher/index.html

1. Adam Saroyan’s “Pages” is a great example of several different types of contemporary or

“language” poetry. The poems address how type appears on page, the one line poem, word

repetition and creating words such as “lobstee.” Saroyan is conscious with how the arraignment

of words on the the page affects the context of what is written. His poetry is not trying to be

anything more than what it is. In other words it is simply conceived language typed on a page. !

!

2. Spring Fjord!

!!!!! after Paul Emil Victor, Pomes Eskimo!

I was out in my kayak!

I was out at sea in it!

I was paddling!

very gently in the fjord Ammassivik!

there was ice in the water!

and on the water a petrel!

turned his head this way that way!

didn't see me paddling!

Suddenly nothing but his tail!

then nothing!

He plunged but not for me:!

huge head upon the water!

great hairy seal!

giant head with giant eyes, moustache!

all shining and dripping!

and the seal came gently toward me!

Why didn't I harpoon him?!

was I sorry for him?!

was it the day, the spring day, the seal!

playing in the sun!

like me?!

!

This is the most “poetic” of the works I've chosen as it is created largely on how it is using

language. Which in this case is used in a more traditional poetic manner. However while it

retains a more traditional look and feel, it has a spoken word quality that separates it. I am also

drawn to the poem became it includes a subtle the lesson that can be gained from reading it. !

!

3. Gravity by Jorg Piringer !

!

I think this is visual poetry at its finest. Even attempting to create any sort of sentence structure

is meaningless as far as I'm concerned, and in saying that, I would not call this poetry. This is

visual art through the use of text, while it uses shape and forum that is the same as our

alphabet, the final forum of the piece becomes something that only vaguely resembles text and

poetry. !

!

4. “Fuck You/ A Magazine of the Arts” !

!

“Fuck You” is an example of what happens when you give creative minds the freedom to be

brash and annoying without fear of any real consequence. The zine created a space for how

this type of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry should be presented. Words not assembled pristinely

on the page and bound neatly among other pages. Instead the poems in “Fuck You” appear

temporary, as though the page could fall out of the magazine and become lost forever. And that

would be okay. !

!

!

!. Found Poems !

 -Malcolm Parr!

!

I am interested in “Found Poems” because it is proof of the unlikely places where you can find

the beauty of language. Although sometimes it takes the mind of another to shed light on it. It

also is similar if not the same as my interest in creating poetics from overhead conversations. !

!

6. Charles Bernstein’s !

 Veil #2!

!

Another example of visual poetry, Veil #2, a physical block of text on the page, gives weight to

words in a way I haven’t seen before. The text block feels as though it could fall through the

page. ! !

!

7. Type Writer Poems !

 -Peter Finch !

!

A combination, if not the bringing together of two worlds. A slice of concrete poetry combined

with visual poetry. While some entries at first appear to have a pure visual poetry look, they can

still be deciphered or in other words, you can dig through the form to find the poetry within. Type

Writer Poems expands the relationship with !

!

8. Aspen no.6A!

!

Specifically within this issue the piece entitled sky/change. It reminds me very much of

“Grapefruit”, Instructions that can’t be followed out. It makes me think about how text effects our

world. Why we obey some of it and ignore other parts. If you someone could carry out the

instructions in “sky/change, would they. !

!

9.The Weather !

by Kenneth Goldsmith !

!

It is a rambling of thoughts. A typed out document of what everyone listens to but immediately

forgets. Fragmentations of thought and sentences. It doesn't try to look pleasing or even sound

beautiful. But at the same time “The Weather” makes beautiful poetry out of something that we

talk about the most. !

!

!

10. Bernd & Hilla Becher !

Im including this in my list because I think most people would question why it’s on a poetry

collection. It’s not visual poetry…well actually is it’s just not poetry. The Becher’s took

photographs, they took photograph to show distinctive similarity in structures. They then showed

theses similarities to people in other countries. From the book- Our selections are obvious but it

has taken us many years to realize they are obvious. In the end the form is the same, it proves

that language or poetry can be translated and twisted in various forms. But it is not until you


view them all together that you see that they are the same. !

No comments:

Post a Comment