David Berridge
NUTSHELL AXIOMS:
AN EXPERIMENT IN READING AS ESSAYING
The notion that 'something to say'
is actually a modulation of the material
scarcely enters anyone's head
BECAUSE WORDS OVERLY RELATING TO POETRY
WILL BE REMOVED FOR FURTHER EXAMINATION*
_____________
*EXTRACTED POETRY:
CASE STUDY ONE: _______ ____ __ ____ ___ _____ __ ____ ___ ___ __ ____ ___________, ____ _ ____ ___ _____ ____ __ _____ __ - _ ____, _ ____ ___ ______ _____ __ _____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ ________ _______ ____ _____ - ___ ______? - __ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___ ___ ____ ____ ______ ___ ____ (__ ___ __ __ ____ ___).
CASE STUDY TWO: ___ ____ __ ___ _____ ____ _____ ____ ___ ____ __ ________, __ _________ _____; ____ ____ ___ ____ __ ____ ____ ________, ___ ____ __________ ______ ______-___, ___ ____... __ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ____ _______ __ ___ _____, ______... ______ ____ ___ ____ _______-_______...____/_______/____/_______ __ _______/____ ___.
CASE STUDY THREE: _____ ________ __ ______, _____ ____ ____ __________ ______-___ __ ___ _____ - _._. ____ ___ __ ____ __ _____, __ ____-______, ___ ____ _____ __ _________ ______ ___ _____, ___ ____ _____ __ ____ _____... _ ______ ____ *
oh i feel very enthusiastic
language does indeed
have different modes of being
NO CIGARETTES AND ONE TIN OF HEINZ BEANS
which are not simply a matter of style
FIVE CLASSROOMS: A SCHOOL
CLASSROOM 1
TURN INSIDE OUT
AS YOU WATCH
CLASSROOM 2
WORD PERSPECTIVE*
________
*(a)WORDS OR WORD THINGS
(b)DISTANCE BEHIND WORDS
(c)JUST WORDS
CLASSROOM 3
HOW THE EYE MOVES ACROSS THE PAGE
CLASSROOM 4
LINES LIKE DIAGRAMS
CLASSROOM 5
POEM-DRAWING DRAWING-POEM
My idea is, that the one-word poem
should be composed of a title plus one word.
All (true) poems have form, and in this case one should
see the title and the word as being 2 straight lines,
which come together forming a corner; the corner
is the form of this poem. Only,
these corners must be so constructed as to be open
(opening) in all directions.
That is the paradox.... [EXAMPLE OMITTED]...
The test of these poems is [EXAMPLE OMITTED]
are they memorable, do they have resonance?
so you can control HOW the eye
will move
across the poem
these nice lines
that are sort of diagrams, of
geometric lines;
only when you look at them they
undulate, and turn themselves slowly
inside-out,
and back
PRACTICING CORNERS*
I WOULD WISH THE NUMBER TO HAVE AS MANY POEMS AS POSSIBLE
A change to the white spaces of concrete
ANY NUMBER OF POEMS YOU CARE TO SEND
Jonathan Williams in fact sent 55
THE KIND OF POEM I WOULD MOST LIKE A SERIOUS ONE
Many people have sent examples only briefly witty
ONE HAS THE WHOLE TITLE TO MOVE AROUND IN
A Haiku brevity without reading like a pseudo-Japanese
IT IS VERY CLOSE
Classic Latin epigraph or epigram
____________
*BUT SURELY A CORNER REQUIRES TWO EQUAL WALLS TOGETHER
THOUGHT INTELLIGENCE
Thence
_______________
WHERE (A) FORMS A RIGHT ANGLE WITH (B)
WHERE (B) SUBSUMES (A)
WHERE (A) COMPRESSES (B) INSIDE IT
WHERE (B) IS (A) AND (A) AND ()
INTERLUDE
"The recognition of the corner is what enables writing to become an activity in space"
"The recognition of the corner means that even the page is glass"
"The recognition of the corner as more than two points meeting at a right angle"
"The recognition of the corner as before and after but never now"
"The recognition of the corner as it is ceasing to exist"
"The recognition of the corner as the basis of a letter"
4. TITLE + (WORD) = RESONANCE
COMMENTARY BECOMES AN ACT BEYOND THE ORIGINAL WHERE A NETWORK IS MADE EVIDENT: There is a romantic expressiveness to Albers’ “structural constellation” drawings and a geometric rigor and line to Goethe, Schilling and the haiku.
COMMENTARY BECOMES A SENSE OF DISBELIEF AT PRIOR ACTS OF COMMENTARY: A study of Andean textiles and Mayan architecture provided forms directly transferable to works of both Anni and Josef Albers.
[EXAMPLE OMITTED]
COMMENTARY BECOMES AN OPENING TO A POSSIBILITY OUT OF DISGRUNTLEMENT: I know very well what you mean about formal dance steps which always lead one into corners.*
COMMENTARY BECOMES A NOSTALGIA FOR THE CONDENSING INTO THE APHORISM: In the line such ideas can go disguised but not in the poem made from fishing boat names.
BEFORE COMMENTARY CELEBRATES A RETURN TO PROPOSING NEW CONNECTIONS: Poems by Lorine Niedecker, Jonathan Williams, Gael Turnbull and Louis Zukofsky.
______________
* I just used to stop, disengage, and say, politely, shall we turn around now...
I KNOW HE IS FAMOUS AND OLD
() the reader alternating between word and image, coloured card and autumn leaves, repeated abandonment of the teacher, Glasgow beasts, The Interaction of Colour
() readability stemming from how (good) design gives all forms of discourse the space and economy of Poems & Drawings
() without words in Homage to the Square but still ‘the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect’, lollypops of the ignorant, dignity of Mondrian or Gris
I CEASED TO AMAZE MYSELF BY MY ABILITY
To cut a piece of wood with a fretsaw
I BEGAN TO FEEL IT INSTEAD AS AN ART
That is the end of pleasure
He would love my poems on glass
THIS IS LARGELY WHAT HAS SAVED ME
Heh... please... please tell me -
if I had only made them
PURE OBJECTS WITH SIMPLE SHAPES IN BRIGHT COLOURS
NOT FOR CHILDREN
Notes 1 corner does not imply a square
1 corner does not imply 4 corners
4 corners imply but do not create a room
1 room may have any number of corners
In reality, however, this is unlikely
Therefore: 4 corners imply 1 room
Art ≠ Pleasure
CONCLUSION: IT IS SOLEMN AND I HOPE HAS DIGNITY*
_________________
*(1)A VERY DEDICATED ENGINEROOM CREW
(2)THE ESSENCE OF CLEAR SPEECH
(3)THE TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH STYLE OF FOOTBALL
(4)IT WAS A VERY EXTRAORDINARY EPISODE
(5)A CONCRETE POET WITHOUT REALISING IT
David Berridge makes language works for galleries, performance, print and on line publications. Recent projects include KAFKA THINKING STATIONS: A CHORA(L) SONG CYCLE (Testing Grounds, Permanent Gallery, Brighton), which was a group performance, a wall text, and a series of scripts available for the audience to read during the performance, silently or aloud. Also two performances in collaboration with Hyun Jin Cho: THE WRITER WHO WANTED TO MAKE USEFUL OBJECTS NO LONGER LIVES HERE (Plan 9, Bristol) and FORMS OF DEMOCRACY: READING WHILST WALKING (Battersea Arts Centre, London). Work online in Refutation, Soanyway, Streetcake, Rubric and fillip.
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AN EXPERIMENT IN READING AS ESSAYING
The notion that 'something to say'
is actually a modulation of the material
scarcely enters anyone's head
BECAUSE WORDS OVERLY RELATING TO POETRY
WILL BE REMOVED FOR FURTHER EXAMINATION*
_____________
*EXTRACTED POETRY:
CASE STUDY ONE: _______ ____ __ ____ ___ _____ __ ____ ___ ___ __ ____ ___________, ____ _ ____ ___ _____ ____ __ _____ __ - _ ____, _ ____ ___ ______ _____ __ _____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ ________ _______ ____ _____ - ___ ______? - __ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___ ___ ____ ____ ______ ___ ____ (__ ___ __ __ ____ ___).
CASE STUDY TWO: ___ ____ __ ___ _____ ____ _____ ____ ___ ____ __ ________, __ _________ _____; ____ ____ ___ ____ __ ____ ____ ________, ___ ____ __________ ______ ______-___, ___ ____... __ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ____ _______ __ ___ _____, ______... ______ ____ ___ ____ _______-_______...____/_______/____/_______ __ _______/____ ___.
CASE STUDY THREE: _____ ________ __ ______, _____ ____ ____ __________ ______-___ __ ___ _____ - _._. ____ ___ __ ____ __ _____, __ ____-______, ___ ____ _____ __ _________ ______ ___ _____, ___ ____ _____ __ ____ _____... _ ______ ____ *
oh i feel very enthusiastic
language does indeed
have different modes of being
NO CIGARETTES AND ONE TIN OF HEINZ BEANS
which are not simply a matter of style
FIVE CLASSROOMS: A SCHOOL
CLASSROOM 1
TURN INSIDE OUT
AS YOU WATCH
CLASSROOM 2
WORD PERSPECTIVE*
________
*(a)WORDS OR WORD THINGS
(b)DISTANCE BEHIND WORDS
(c)JUST WORDS
CLASSROOM 3
HOW THE EYE MOVES ACROSS THE PAGE
CLASSROOM 4
LINES LIKE DIAGRAMS
CLASSROOM 5
POEM-DRAWING DRAWING-POEM
My idea is, that the one-word poem
should be composed of a title plus one word.
All (true) poems have form, and in this case one should
see the title and the word as being 2 straight lines,
which come together forming a corner; the corner
is the form of this poem. Only,
these corners must be so constructed as to be open
(opening) in all directions.
That is the paradox.... [EXAMPLE OMITTED]...
The test of these poems is [EXAMPLE OMITTED]
are they memorable, do they have resonance?
so you can control HOW the eye
will move
across the poem
these nice lines
that are sort of diagrams, of
geometric lines;
only when you look at them they
undulate, and turn themselves slowly
inside-out,
and back
PRACTICING CORNERS*
A change to the white spaces of concrete
ANY NUMBER OF POEMS YOU CARE TO SEND
Jonathan Williams in fact sent 55
THE KIND OF POEM I WOULD MOST LIKE A SERIOUS ONE
Many people have sent examples only briefly witty
ONE HAS THE WHOLE TITLE TO MOVE AROUND IN
A Haiku brevity without reading like a pseudo-Japanese
IT IS VERY CLOSE
Classic Latin epigraph or epigram
____________
*BUT SURELY A CORNER REQUIRES TWO EQUAL WALLS TOGETHER
Thence
_______________
WHERE (A) FORMS A RIGHT ANGLE WITH (B)
WHERE (B) SUBSUMES (A)
WHERE (A) COMPRESSES (B) INSIDE IT
WHERE (B) IS (A) AND (A) AND ()
INTERLUDE
"The recognition of the corner is what enables writing to become an activity in space"
"The recognition of the corner means that even the page is glass"
"The recognition of the corner as more than two points meeting at a right angle"
"The recognition of the corner as before and after but never now"
"The recognition of the corner as it is ceasing to exist"
"The recognition of the corner as the basis of a letter"
4. TITLE + (WORD) = RESONANCE
COMMENTARY BECOMES AN ACT BEYOND THE ORIGINAL WHERE A NETWORK IS MADE EVIDENT: There is a romantic expressiveness to Albers’ “structural constellation” drawings and a geometric rigor and line to Goethe, Schilling and the haiku.
COMMENTARY BECOMES A SENSE OF DISBELIEF AT PRIOR ACTS OF COMMENTARY: A study of Andean textiles and Mayan architecture provided forms directly transferable to works of both Anni and Josef Albers.
[EXAMPLE OMITTED]
COMMENTARY BECOMES AN OPENING TO A POSSIBILITY OUT OF DISGRUNTLEMENT: I know very well what you mean about formal dance steps which always lead one into corners.*
COMMENTARY BECOMES A NOSTALGIA FOR THE CONDENSING INTO THE APHORISM: In the line such ideas can go disguised but not in the poem made from fishing boat names.
BEFORE COMMENTARY CELEBRATES A RETURN TO PROPOSING NEW CONNECTIONS: Poems by Lorine Niedecker, Jonathan Williams, Gael Turnbull and Louis Zukofsky.
______________
* I just used to stop, disengage, and say, politely, shall we turn around now...
() the reader alternating between word and image, coloured card and autumn leaves, repeated abandonment of the teacher, Glasgow beasts, The Interaction of Colour
() readability stemming from how (good) design gives all forms of discourse the space and economy of Poems & Drawings
() without words in Homage to the Square but still ‘the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect’, lollypops of the ignorant, dignity of Mondrian or Gris
To cut a piece of wood with a fretsaw
I BEGAN TO FEEL IT INSTEAD AS AN ART
That is the end of pleasure
He would love my poems on glass
THIS IS LARGELY WHAT HAS SAVED ME
Heh... please... please tell me -
if I had only made them
PURE OBJECTS WITH SIMPLE SHAPES IN BRIGHT COLOURS
NOT FOR CHILDREN
Notes 1 corner does not imply a square
1 corner does not imply 4 corners
4 corners imply but do not create a room
1 room may have any number of corners
In reality, however, this is unlikely
Therefore: 4 corners imply 1 room
Art ≠ Pleasure
CONCLUSION: IT IS SOLEMN AND I HOPE HAS DIGNITY*
_________________
*(1)A VERY DEDICATED ENGINEROOM CREW
(2)THE ESSENCE OF CLEAR SPEECH
(3)THE TRADITIONAL SCOTTISH STYLE OF FOOTBALL
(4)IT WAS A VERY EXTRAORDINARY EPISODE
(5)A CONCRETE POET WITHOUT REALISING IT
DEVELOPED FROM A READING OF
IAN HAMILTON FINLAY, A MODEL OF ORDER:
SELECTED LETTERS ON POETRY AND MAKING,
EDITED BY THOMAS A.CLARK
(GLASGOW, WAX366, 2009).
LONDON AUG-SEP 2009
IAN HAMILTON FINLAY, A MODEL OF ORDER:
SELECTED LETTERS ON POETRY AND MAKING,
EDITED BY THOMAS A.CLARK
(GLASGOW, WAX366, 2009).
LONDON AUG-SEP 2009
David Berridge makes language works for galleries, performance, print and on line publications. Recent projects include KAFKA THINKING STATIONS: A CHORA(L) SONG CYCLE (Testing Grounds, Permanent Gallery, Brighton), which was a group performance, a wall text, and a series of scripts available for the audience to read during the performance, silently or aloud. Also two performances in collaboration with Hyun Jin Cho: THE WRITER WHO WANTED TO MAKE USEFUL OBJECTS NO LONGER LIVES HERE (Plan 9, Bristol) and FORMS OF DEMOCRACY: READING WHILST WALKING (Battersea Arts Centre, London). Work online in Refutation, Soanyway, Streetcake, Rubric and fillip.
posted by mark young at 2:14 PM
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