experimental model

The Child of God Came, As I Lay Dying

As I lay dying,
she wouldn’t wait.

It,

like so many flames.
As I lay dying,
you want Darl?

Drinks,
you want Darl?
It,
now them others sitting there, like buzzards.
Get a good breed, because Mr.

came like a caravan.
Him, the musicians looked like compositions.
It must have thowed his neck out someway or another.
Later on,
dust and slats of sunlight

onto the floor
for ye and you all.

Get your goddamn ass
out along the cupped floorboards and subsided,
dust and slats of sunlight.

The experimental poem The Child of God Came, As I Lay Dying is an experimental poem derived from Charles Bernstein’s list of experimental poems. This poem is an altered form of the acrostic chance poem. A poem of acrostic chance consists of the title of a novel as the acrostic key phrase. Within this key phrase each letter corresponds to a numerical number prescribed by the order of the alphabet; A equals one and Z equals twenty-six. These numbers then translate into the page from which you generate the poem. From each corresponding page is a line of the poem taken from the first word that begins with the letter that the numerical value was adapted until the end of the sentence or line. This model is an alternative version of the acrostic chance because it combines two acrostic key phrases from the title of two novels; William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Cormack McCarthy’s Child of God. The use of an experimental poem challenges the mainstream ideals of language, art, and ideology within poetry by altering the perception of the speaker and reader. With found text the identity of the speaker has changed and the language of the poem is inconsistent and sometimes incoherent and creates a greater need for analysis. This alteration of the mainstream style of poetry is, in the end, is unsuccessful. The poem lacks order and consistency. There is no central theme to the poem. Essentially it is only a combination of separate thoughts, trying to work together to create meaning. Even though some lines are taken from a particular novel, the thoughts and ideas are fragmented and incoherent. When these lines are taken out of context, the phrase inevitably loses its meaning and must lean on the whole poem to regain it. This redemption of meaning is possible, but not as concise as the typical mainstream poem, which uses the entirety of the lines to convey a certain theme or meaning. The only positive outlook for this style of poetry is the possibility of a meaning being developed by the reader. This idea again has a downfall because within mainstream poetry this development of meaning by the reader is still essential. This development of meaning must also be achieved by the poet, ultimately meaning the poem is created in hopes of a theme being inadvertently produced. This hopeful production of meaning is an unsuccessful style of poetry.

week of Nov 3-7: No real sense

The Language, or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets are a group of poets, sometimes considered avant garde, who emerged in the early 1970’s. This movement embodies the idea that language dictates meaning. Another key aspect of Language poetry is the importance of reader participation, where the reader must find meaning within the text. After reading a very small selection of Language poetry anthologized by Norton, I can see these underlying themes, but can’t spot the importance of this movement. When I say importance, I am not referring to the worth of the poetry, because everything created essentially has an importance to someone, but more an importance to the movement of what is Language poetry. Also to note, the meaning of avant garde also escapes me. The fact that people try and try again to be different and experimental to bring about a change in the social worth of something is in fact just the same as everyone else who wanted to be different. Once someone creates a movement to counter or replace a previous form of thought an acceptance of this idea is readily attained by either the mass or high culture of society and in time has become a normal aspect of society, which will eventually be overrun by another though. The creation of a form of poetry that looks involve the reader to find meaning within the text seems to be the overall aspect of any type of poetry. Essentially everyone is trying to do the same thing, but in different ways. In all poetry, art, or literature the involvement of the reader or observer is essential. No one can see or interpret the work the same, or should be encouraged to. The success or importance of any form of art is the personal connection one has to it; the creator included. The fact that the Language poets claim their poems requires reader participation is a statement of the obvious. In regards to classification; I am aware of its function. It functions in present and historical time frames to distinguish ideas. The point I am trying to make, or opinion I am ranting about, is the desire to be classified and the creation of art to gain this classification. I know there is no escaping it. It seems that the only thought of the world is the mark or change they will present to history. There is little individuality left. Every aspect of life is a summation of adjectives. This group is avant garde, and these are liberals, republicans, modernists, romantics, structuralists. What is the meaning behind all of it? The creation of change will only create another creation of change. The world is too easily shaped by history, which is what identity truly is; an adaption of the world onto yourself. I am myself within my own thoughts at the same time myself within the thoughts of my classmates. Individuality is impossible. Identity is a product of history. Essentially there is no point to this blog post. Thoughts are just opinion, similar and different to everything.