"If you believe that not everything can be told in a book,
words know how to find their own way
and, left to themselves, decide where to land." -- Marie Chaix
words know how to find their own way
and, left to themselves, decide where to land." -- Marie Chaix
Operating on a loose definition of "words" as the actual messages they express, the works within
The Sienese Shredder collectively reflect Chaix's principle. She illustrates by narration alone the flexibility of language as universal enough to transcend convention, while John Ashbery and Jane Hammond manipulate images and scarce text in order to conceptually test the limits of this flexibility.
While most of the book's entries challenge my rejection of language as mere iconology, poets Jane Hammond, Ron Padgett and Chris Edgar reinforce it. I inherently classify poetry, however narrowly, as an art most heavily dependent on its language -- the way they're arranged on the page or stressed vocally. I suppose more innovative means of presenting a poetic idea or story allow for a wider range of interpretations (and isn't personalized catharsis art's goal?)... but visual poetry like Ashbery's and Hammond's, when presented alongside more conventional free verse poems, seem to contain messages too far removed from the artist's original emotional intent.
The Sienese Shredder collectively reflect Chaix's principle. She illustrates by narration alone the flexibility of language as universal enough to transcend convention, while John Ashbery and Jane Hammond manipulate images and scarce text in order to conceptually test the limits of this flexibility.
While most of the book's entries challenge my rejection of language as mere iconology, poets Jane Hammond, Ron Padgett and Chris Edgar reinforce it. I inherently classify poetry, however narrowly, as an art most heavily dependent on its language -- the way they're arranged on the page or stressed vocally. I suppose more innovative means of presenting a poetic idea or story allow for a wider range of interpretations (and isn't personalized catharsis art's goal?)... but visual poetry like Ashbery's and Hammond's, when presented alongside more conventional free verse poems, seem to contain messages too far removed from the artist's original emotional intent.
