Ezra Pound's Cantos

Ezra Pound was an American poet who lived from 1885 to 1972. His Cantos is a long unfinished piece of poetry. It is in 116 sections, each section within "canto" form. (A canto is a form of division in a long poem.) This piece has been considered a very important piece of Modernist poetry in the 20th century. It is epic in length and has been known to be difficult to read. This piece uses found poetry as it includes letters written by presidents and popes. It also includes a variety of official bank documents and governmental documents.

I read an excerpts of "Canto I" and "Canto XIV" to research this piece of hybrid found poetry. I have to say, even the excerpts were difficult reads. I read it looking for the pieces of found poetry and they were challenging to locate for me. I think that is because the piece is dated and as well as the appropriated media, making locating it difficult for someone from my generation. However, in the excerpt titled Canto I, I am pretty sure where he switches to Latin, he is using found text from Homer's writings;

     And I stepped back,
And he stong with the blood, said then: “Odysseus
Shalt return through spiteful Neptune, over dark seas,
Lose all companions.” And then Anticlea came.
Lie quiet Divus. I mean, that is Andreas Divus,
In officina Wecheli, 1538, out of Homer.

I think this use of found poetry is interesting as it references the work of Homer which represents the classical world and epic poetry. Pound's Cantos is very much a piece of epic poetry in its length and I feel by referencing Homer it is referencing that of its kind, queuing the audience in to read Cantos as if they are reading the Illiad. It is also interesting where he switches the language abruptly on the reader (In officina Wechelli).  Although the reader may not be able to translate the portion of found text, they may read it objectively as two beautiful words in a line of poetry.

Truthfully, I found the excerpt titled Canto XIV easier to get through. I got more out of it and found it somewhat comical;

Addressing crowds through their arse-holes,

Addressing the multitudes in the ooze,
    newts, water-slugs, water-maggots,
And with them. . . . . . . r,
    a scrupulously clean table-napkin
Tucked under his penis,
    and. . . . . . . . . . . m
Who disliked colioquial language,
stiff-starched, but soiled, collars
    circumscribing his legs,
The pimply and hairy skin
    pushing over the collar’s edge,
Profiteers drinking blood sweetened with sh-t,

Although I can't locate any use of found poetry in the above, I wanted to include it because I think he's doing some interesting things here poetically. It is cynical in its use of profanity- something I use within my own creative work. 

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Cantos by Ezra Pound. There were parts that made me laugh and read easily for me yet there were also parts that felt isolating and unattainable for me as a reader. Although incredibly different in readability compared to my work, I am interested in how Pound hides snippets of found poetry throughout his works.

References I used:

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/found-poem-poetic-form

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/ezra-pound

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/canto-i

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/canto-xiv

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cantos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canto

Incredible Dreamz

When I heard that Andrew Jeffrey Wright and Rose Luardo were having a performance at Space 1026 for Fringe, I knew I had to go! I have been a fan of Andrew’s work and his internet presence for quite some time now and hadn’t yet had a chance to see him perform live. Andrew and Rose are known for their peculiar performances that merge absurdist comedy, improvisational acting, and choreographed dancing. I thought it was a great chance to study this performance through the lens of a hybrid genre.

            The performance opened with a very choreographed feel. There was limited dialogue for the first thirty minutes as the four main characters moved throughout the stage setting, occasionally interacting with each other in ways that expressed conflict. The music and lights would change with the movements to suggest emotions such as anger or terror. There were definitely moments within the first thirty minutes where the movements and corresponding music/lights suggested a horror genre feel. However, the performance never stayed with one genre for very long, switching from horror to comedy back to horror without fluid transitions.

            After thirty minutes of choreographed movements with limited dialogue, the lights went on and the performance immediately transitioned into an absurdist comedy skit. At this point, the audience was introduced more personally to the characters through the introduction of comical dialogue. After a scene of absurdist dialogue where we find out the four main characters are in a polyamorous relationship as they prepare bologna/mustard roll-ups while they talk about their absurd days at their various jobs, the performance then turns into improvisational comedy. The characters asked for audience one-word suggestions for an improv skit that actually never happens.

 The performance ends with absurdist comedy acting as the characters get into bed together, kiss each other on the cheek and say “Incredible Dreams” to each other. Following that, the performers stand up, announce that the performance is over, take a member from the audience, and challenge her with the question of what she took away from the performance. After being unsatisfied with her answer, they then place a huge dunce cap on her that says, “I don’t understand art” and tell her she has to stay for the next performance. 

This strange performance merged so many genres, including but not limited to absurdist comedy, improvisational acting, choreographed dancing, surrealism, horror, and romance. Although it left the audience very confused, it made everyone laugh. I loved that it poked fun at performance art while being performance art; I see that as a type of absurdist humor. I always relate to that type of ironic humor and it usually comes out within my own creative work.  Overall, I was very inspired by the performance and would suggest Andrew and Rose’s performances to anyone interested in hybrid genre performance work.

Read more about it here. 

Day by Kenneth Goldsmith

After the touchy conversation about Kenneth Goldsmith in class, I was interested in reading more of his work out of curiosity. Kenneth Goldsmith works solely with Found Poetry. His book, Day, was published in 2003 and was comprised entirely of every piece of text, letter, or number printed within the September 1, 2000 issue of The New York Times.

Although I haven't read the whole piece, I have read an excerpt for research purposes. Here is the link to the excerpt:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/day-excerpt

Before talking about my opinions of the actual content of the piece I want to talk a little bit about intentions. I think it would be safe to say that Kenneth Goldsmith is a type of absurdist through his occasional controversial appropriation of text (i.e. The Body of Michael Brown). With absurdism it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint the target audience of the work. After much speculation about Goldsmith's target audience, I have come to think that the ideal audience of his work is any American who consumes media. I believe this because I see Goldsmith's work as commenting on sources of media, especially within Day by taking its contents (word for word) out of context, rendering it as something other than a piece of consumable media.

Okay now for the content of the piece. I found that it read really interestingly. I don't know how it would be reading the entire piece all the way through but the excerpt was surprisingly very entertaining for me. I found myself most interested in moments that could clearly be read as either article titles or a successful line of poetry such as "The Rhetoric of Persuasion". Having those words in the form of a poem seem just as seamless as seeing that text titling a New York Times article. That dynamic interests me and I want to play with found poetry in a similar way.

Resources I used:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/day-excerpt
http://bombmagazine.org/article/5522/kenneth-goldsmith-s-day

Found Poetry Example

For my first example of Found Poetry I want to start with comparing it symbolically to certain types of visual art/visual art movements. Doing this has always helped me fathom the idea of found poetry (probably due to my art/art history education). There are many different types of found poetry as I defined in my previous post, however, I feel that talking about it through the lens of Dadaism relates most to the type of found poetry I want to create. In class we created a Dadaist poem, which involved using a chance factor to "remix" text found within a newspaper.  I think the idea of "contextual confusion" here is what interests me. Dadaism promotes ideas of using the "readymade" as a philosophy for creating work. By doing this, these artists are sourcing the found material and taking it out of context for the sake of creating art.

Marcel Duchamp is a name I'd like to mention for the purpose of this example post. His fame came from turning the tables of art through taking readymade materials and placing them into the context of art. His piece "Fountain" is probably the most well known example of this idea. This piece has been considered the most influential piece of modern art work. Taking a readymade manufactured urinal, signing it "R.Mutt 1917", and placing it on a pedestal is what Duchamp did to create this piece. These simple gestures sparked much conversation revolving around the question of "what defines art as art?".

Lets look at this piece through the context of found poetry and how it relates. Found poetry takes readymade material and places it out of context from its original source, much like what Duchamp is doing here with "Fountain". Additionally, he is adding a small portion of his own text/input, "R.Mutt 1917". This is also a characteristic of some found poetry. His addition of this small handwritten gesture, in my opinion, further uplifts the readymade aspect of the urinal through juxtaposition. Ideally, that is what I would like to do with my use of found poetry (through mixing it with memoir).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry#Examples
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4059997.stm

Found Poetry Definition

Found Poetry is a genre of poetry created by borrowing words, phrases, or passages from preexisting sources and framing them as poetry. This genre of poetry has been described as a literary equivalent to "collage". After doing some research I have come to find that there are multiple types of methods used within Found Poetry. The following types listed are identified/described according to foundpoetryreview.com:

1. Erasure- Taking an existing source and erasing a majority of the text, leaving behind a select amount of words and phrases that are read in order to compose the poem. 
2. Free form excerpting and remixing- Excerpting words and phrases from the source text and rearranging them in a chosen manner.
3. Cento- Uniting lines from other poet's work into a new poem. The original lines remain completely in tact yet the intervention comes with the arrangement and the form.
4. Cut up- Physically cutting or tearing a text into words or phrases then rearranging those strips to make a poem. (Example- Dadaist poetry)

http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/about-found-poetry/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry