Another Example of the New Extreme Experimental American Poetry

'Using a 1957 Chinese Manual as it were, (based on surviving soldiers' reports) for instructing interrogators, the Americans claim that though they copied a Chinese Torture How-To Book, the Guantanamo-carried out copying of its teachings is "NOT torture." This raises an interesting question: does the translation and copying of texts absolve the texts of the "evil" of the Original? Does this mean that when the Chinese used the Manual it was "Real" torture, but when Americans use the translated copy, it is NOT "real" torture but a kind of "play acting"? A Simulation of torture being taken to be "not the same thing" as the Original? .... In short, what is being performed at Guantanamo really is NOT torture, but "de programming."' Brutal interrogation by David-Baptiste Chirot. Set aside half hour and read it three times, then repeat in darkness with a bag over your head, sucking your cheeks in.

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8 Aphorisms on the Poetico-Philosophico Relation

'6) A poet and a philosopher are looking at the same clever drawing. One of them does not see two profiles, and the other the stem of a vase. The philosopher sees lines on a piece of paper. The poet sees a piece of paper marked with lines.' Not sure whether this is clever or pure tosh. But I like what I see, and so I post it for you.

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onedit Reviews

There's so much good stuff on this one page that I almost burst with goodness, like a Ribena berry. If you watch carefully the new Ribena advert, you will see a Westie getting splashed the sugary concoction, and he is not best pleased. Get the RSPCA on it.

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Gurlesque

'There seems to be a lot of misunderstandings of "gurlesque" (and it appears I've only added to the confusion). Gurlesque is not a movement (like Surrealism etc), it's a frame Arielle Greenberg thought up to read some of the most interesting contemporary poets in America (as possibly elsewhere). I think the concept has promise, though it hasn't yet been made much more than a category.' A word that has been making the rounds recently amongst a certain group of as yet uninterconnected posting. I'm not too sure at all, but make what you will when you investigate the Gurlesque.

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Jerome's Musings

A couple of choice highlights from Jerome Rothenberg's superlative blog: Gematria (1): Seven in Dedication Reconfiguring Romanticism (5): Dionysios Solomos Poem & Commentary

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PennSound Podcast

Featuring Rothenberg, Flarf, Creeley and myriad other voondars. Link (iTunes Podcast)

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The Last Novel by David Markson

David Markson's The Last Novel is composed entirely of short, one to three sentence factoids, reflections, and allusions, usually about historical and contemporary high cultural figures, that are separated one from another by a blank line. There are no conventional chapters, plots, settings, or characters, except for "Author," who appears in the third person in about 30 of the shorts." Jefferson Hansen, Experimental Fiction & Poetry Link

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July 23rd

John Wilkinson joins the line up for the next Openned Night on July 23rd. More on the Nights page.

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