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1997 OCT 30
Poetic Expressions
ART & TECHNOLOGY
The use of visual devices
has a long tradition in the history of literature. Poets and writers
like Ezra Pound, Guillaume Apollinaire, Lewis Carrol, and many others
through the centuries have used a variety of visual devices to paint
us a picture in words. And this rich tradition continues today.
As with most arts in this twentieth century, writing and poetry have
grown way beyond their traditional trunk to branch out into ever more
specialized, concentrated, focused forms. From visual device to visual
literature and poetry: concrete, conceptual, cyber, hyper --
experimental, interactive, time-based performance poetry --
still going... still growing.
This feature is an introductory look at poetry that can be broadly
classified as visual in the contemporary sense of the word,
and highlights some of the listings in the Cyberpoetry Web
links.
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LITERARY
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CONCRETE
Examples above and below serve to illustrate three kinds of
visual poetry: literary (a choice of words), concrete (use of
words, layout, or color to represent 'real' objects), and
conceptual (where the title might provide the only literal
reference, and layout and color represent the idea(s)
of/behind the words).
SKY SAW SEA
CONCEPTUAL
From the Cyberpoetry
Web links, here are three sites on the Web featuring visual poets and
their poetry, and information about visual literature and poetry --
Dreamspew, Light & Dust Poets, and Wr-eye-tings
Scratchpad.
The Wr-eye-tings site is a little unusual as it is not intended
to function as a permanent showcase, but as a temporary site to display
works being critiqued and discussed by participants on the Wr-eye-tings
discussion list, a list server for anyone interested by the subject.
The Web site is maintained by poet, editor, and publisher (also list
moderator) Luigi-Bob Drake.
There are a number of works posted on the Scratchpad, including
some very fine and intriguing expressions by Luigi-Bob Drake, s+m;
Irving Weiss, Poem with Vowel Music (Strung Too Tight) Sprung;
Elson Froes, Isarose; Victor Grauer, Book of the Year Three
Thousand; Dean Taciuch, Fear; and others. From these works
you get a good idea of the tremendous diversity that is 'visual
poetry'. Enjoy your visit!
Dreamspew
www.glassdog.com/spew/dreamspew/dream.html
The personal site of artist, poet, and Web designer David Chan.
Very visual poetry with a twist. Hong Kong
Light & Dust Poets
www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/lighthom.htm
Visual poetry and other works, plus hard to find books at this
important resource site. USA
Wr-eye-tings Scratchpad
www.burningpress.org/wreyeting/index.html
A supplement to the Wr-eye-tings discussion list; a temporary
space to house works currently under discussion. Traditional
and new media visual poetry. USA
Next week,
A&T 11/06/97: a closer look at the work of contemporary
artist/poets pushing the creative envelope with new and
experimental visual/poetic/Web works. And so the
tradition continues. See you then!
Would you like to see your work in Zn?
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