These are a few map poems I did.
I traced the original line from the "Gladiators of the Sea no.339" and then used that as a map to make the next four poems.
It is not as interesting as I thought it would be. This is probably because it is out of my own hands. This line dictates what words will be chosen rather than using my own aesthetic to create the poems.
The only thing that I control is the underline. Though each point on the line may land on a specific word I can control which words I use that are before and after the specific word.
This gives me a bit of room to breathe but it is still not enough.
no. 14
walking manifestations
the maximum, female,
no. 16
the rat,
genera of mental Arctic Sparrow
fall into serious error
no. 17
composition the same
mental correct light,
the positively affirmed
no. 20
Capitol-grounds.
to do,
he apparently did a recent eight years the Philosophical
well, they're interesting to this reader.
ReplyDeletethere's no reason to expect that all will be equally interesting; although it's possible (these are pretty good, alone and taken together).
the "success" ration might also be something like one out of five, or twenty.
I'd stay, don't stop now!
alternatively, same diagram, employed on five different pages: thus yielding five different words for each diagrammatic point, from which you can choose the best (or even offer reader options of one or two — or five).
could also try different sorts of diagrams. even circles, with a "point" at every 15º, for example...
please don't stop prematurely, just because you feel you've given up some "aesthetic" control.
not what you're doing, but maybe of interest. Isabel Carrero, La Fragilidad de los Tiempos Muertos 0.06
ReplyDeleteand reiteration, that you not hastily reject recent detour. is the aim: poems, or the process of making poems, working with poetic language as a means of thinking / feeling / seeing. there are any number of experimental poets/writers out there — some of them you've heard of — that might interest you. Lisa Robertson. Susan Howe. Stacy Doris. many many more, from whose work something can be learned.
how does one move through a forest, of words?
ReplyDeletewith compass?
looking for hints, signs?
this might be of interest —
Translations from Bark Beetle (Milkweed Editions) is made up of two basic types of poems. In the first, [Jody] Gladding translates notations left by bark beetle (those squiggly inscribed lines one sometimes sees in wood) into poetry; and in the second, she inscribes her own poems on natural materials such as quarried slate or found objects—a pair of tongue depressors, for example, or a scan from a doctor’s office. The collection is an ambitious work that presses the reader to see and read language (and resituate it in the world) anew.
here.
hope to see some "poems" moved out of their original "map" view, into other presentation(s).