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Random Poetry 07

Talking%20Popcorn.jpg
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“WE”
First utterance of Talking Popcorn
by Nina Katchadourian
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dhcmrlchtdj
“distribution height closets may remote Library catalogue hardly to die just
dead hands claim me repeat Library centre hexagons the do jumbles
dreams hundred cannot matter rudimentary letter could have this did justified
dimensions hope corridors met remote Library could have the discover juggle
disappeared have cup mimic reduction Library comma have the delirium just
danger hexagons Combed m refutation languages correct hexagonal these define just”
(An acrostic text generated by taking the cryptogram cited in “The Library of Babel,” and using this phrase to “read through” the entire story by Jorge Luis Borges)
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01.25.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1)

Christian Bök

Random Poetry 05

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“thus can books that come I judge come infinite”
(By coincidence, the first nine words drawn at random, in this order, from the jumbled lexicon of all words in an English translation of “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges)
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01.24.08 PERMALINK | NO COMMENTS

Christian Bök

Random Poetry 04

Library%20of%20Babel%20%28Eco%29.gif
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“Contemplate hexagonal air normal closets each
the is railing endlessly say
great of dictum
Centre hexagons and not capital exists
librarian elegant the seated
up says
books remote each and that have established”
(An acrostic text, generated by taking two short aphorisms about chance by Jean Baudrillard and using them to “read through” a translation of “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges)
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01.22.08 PERMALINK | NO COMMENTS

Christian Bök

Random Poetry 03

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“I have seen old men who, for long periods of time, would hide in the latrines with some metal disks in a forbidden dice cup and feebly mimic the divine disorder.”
[A sentence quoted from an English version of "The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges.]
“T TTTT HTTH TTT THH TTH HTH HHHT TTHHTTT TH HHTH TTHTH THHT HT THT THHTHTHT HTHT HTTH HHHHH HHHTH HT T THHTHTTHT THTH HTT TTH HHHTHT HTHHT TTH HTHHHH HHTTHHHT”
[A series of heads (H) and tails (T), showing a coin-toss for each letter in the above quote.]
“• •••• -••- ••• •– ••- -•- —• ••–••• •- –•- ••-•- •–• -• •-• •–•-•-• -•-• -••- —– —•- -• • •–•-••-• •-•- -•• ••- —•-• -•–• ••- -•—- –••—•”
[A conversion of the random series, above, into a sequence of dits (T = •) and dahs (H = -).]
“E H X S W U K Ö ?E A Q UA P N R &N C X 0 ÖT N E &R Ä D U ÖN Ĥ U YM ,N”
[A translation of the dits and dahs, above, from Morse Code into a series of English symbols.]
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01.18.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3)

Christian Bök

Random Poetry 02

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“art, by, contemplate, distribution, except, free, galleries, hexagonal, is, just, know, letters, melancholy, number, of, part, quite, railings, shafts, this, universe, variations, with, you, zero.”
(First appearances of words that begin with a chosen letter of the alphabet in an English translation of “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges….)
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01.15.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1)

Christian Bök

Random Poetry 01

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TRIUMVIRATE
(The only English word that might be enciphered in the famous, random series of letters cited by Jorge Luis Borges, who writes in “The Library of Babel”: “I cannot combine some characters, dhcmrlchtdj, which the divine Library has not foreseen and which in one of its secret tongues do not contain a terrible meaning….”)
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Randomized literature has never enjoyed much prestige in the history of writing, despite the fact that many avant-garde writers have experimented with the use of aleatoric processes during the creation of poems. Critics often dismiss these works as too obdurate or too hermetic to warrant much consideration, and teachers often describe such poetry as “unteachable”—however, I am hoping to offer a few rambling thoughts on the subject in the following selection of posts….

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01.14.08 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1)

Christian Bök

Visual Poetics 08

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“Untitled #22″
from The Untitled Project
by Matt Siber
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Darren Wershler-Henry has argued that, despite rumours of its decline, visual poetry has in fact colonized the entire, iconic landscape of capitalism, creating a graphic terrain already infused with optical artistry—and he goes on to suggest that most modern, visual poetry in fact owes its existence to “people who are…talented enough to be graphic designers, but, in the best slacker tradition, basically don’t give a fuck”—and thus they abuse these skills in order to make trouble….