Play the game of PO: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

Po, a language game

Po, English, a language game invented by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE> (the greatest undiscovered OuLiPoian writer) on Friday, November 13, 2009EV, in which a word's having many meanings in many different languages is exploited in order to construct narrative texts using only one word - the meaning being derived by then translating that word's multiple meanings. Future variations on the game are Li, &Ou .

Sample text - entitled "Po" (of course):

Po po, po po po, po, po, po po po, po po po.

Po, po po, po po po, po po, po, po po po, po po po po po.

Translation:

At sunset, according to the whole operational program, a small thing, yes, son, to gush in belly, to gush in arse. After strip, in the wake of skin, at a time when night, not translatable indicator of respect, agentive particle, in exchange for pole by mouth, to flutter close hand all along sir or madam.

po = "at" in Esperanto

po = "sunset" in Marquesan

po = "according to" in Serbian (Latin Script)

po = "the whole" in Tocharian (Transliterated)

po = "operational program" in Portuguese & Spanish

po = "a small thing" in Ainu

po = "son" in Ainu

po = "to gush" in Chewa

po = "in" in Croatian, French, Lithuanian, & Serbian (Latin Script)

po = "belly" in Caló

po = "to gush" in Chewa

po = "in" in Croatian, French, Lithuanian, & Serbian (Latin Script)

po = "arse" in German

po = "after" in Croatian, Czech, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak, & Slovak old

po = "strip" in Indonesian

po = "in the wake of" in Lithuanian

po = "skin" in Creole & Haitian Creole

po = "at a time" in Slovio

po = "when" in Swahili

po = "night" in Samoan

po = "not translatable" in Tagalog

po = "indicator of respect" in Pampangan & Tagalog

po = "agentive particle" in Tibetan (Transliterated)

po = "in exchange for" in Ido

po = "pole" in Valencian

po = the abbreviation for "per os"(Latin) = "by mouth"(medical terminology)

po = "to flutter" in Denya

po = "close" in Gilbertese

po = "hand" in Guarani (Transliterated)

po = "all along" in Czech

po = "sir or madam" in Pampangan & Tagalog

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I will send his contact details to anyone interested in playing the game.

Poetry meets illustrators: Matthew Zapruder + Martina Hoffmann

Graphic novel based on Matthew Zapruder's poem “The Pajamaist” illustrated by Martina Hoffmann and published by Luxbooks.

Vizsound: DB Chirot - Zero Poem

Poetry + Comics = Poemics

"one poemic, two poemics... so poemics is an art between poetry and comics. what does it mean? is there a need for such an art? well, there are many kinds of arts out there, some are really well known and make people famous, and some are only practiced by a little group, by one person or even by none. I hope poemics will have some future, and that there will be albums, exhibitions and other forms full of poemics. It would be nice to think and write a lot about the theory, but I guess it is even more important to create poemics. so let me invite you to the poemics project, let's do it! "

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POEMICS, an exciting project about blending genres.

Erasure works - Wave Books

Wave Books is a poetry press which proposes books based on erasure. Their website has a page dedicated to erasure which allows you to create your own erasure from a number of source texts. This one was done by me.

A Brief History of Erasure Poetics -Travis Macdonald

A Brief History of Erasure Poetics by Travis Macdonald (Jacket Magazine)


"The poetry of erasure is taking place all around us. Underneath the pavement, behind newspaper headlines, on paste-layered billboards and graffiti-laden walls, our communal landscape is continuously peeling away and papering over itself. Its very surface is a living thing in flux between the dueling processes of decay and renewal, driven in the name of progress to adapt to the shifting contextual demands of culture or be replaced, removed, re-imagined. While this process can, at times, be artificially postponed, nothing escapes its effects forever. This world demands of its denizens a constant and vigilant revision of form."

Erasure Projects - Michalis Pichler: Un coup de dés

UN COUP DE DÉS JAMAIS N‘ABOLIRA LE HASARD (sculpture)

Comment by Michalis Pichler:
"Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard (A Throw of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance) is a book by Michalis Pichler published 2008/09 in Berlin. The work is a close copy of the 1914 edition of the french symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé's poem of the same name, but with all the words cut out by laser, in a way that corresponds directly to the typographic layout used by Mallarmé to articulate the text*.A Preface features the entire poem written as a block of text with each line separated by a slash (/). This block-transcription of the Mallarme-Text was carried out in 1969 by Broodthaers. 12 double spreads follow, with immaculately cut out windows standing in for the text. When turning the pages, numerous shadows are being generated by the cutouts.
The work is soft bound and feels quite insubstantial. The cover is a facsimile of the original cover as published in 1914 by Librairie Gallimard, with the word 'SCULPTURE' replacing 'POEME' (or 'IMAGE') in the centre of the design.

500 copies are produced on paper, 90 on translucent paper and 10 on acrylic glass plates.

Historical note:
* Mallarmé had written the poem in 1897, also saw it published in a magazine called Cosmopolis, but left copious notes as to how it should be typeset, instructions that were finally carried out 16 years after his death, in 1914.
In 1969 this work was appropriated by notorious Marcel Broodthaers, who replaced the words by black stripes. He replaced the classification 'POEME' on the cover by the word 'IMAGE'."

Erasure Projects - Linda Ellia's fight against Mein Kampf

A few years ago Linda Ellia launched "Our Fight" a project in which she asked each participant to "work" on one page of Hitler's Mein Kampf.

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What Linda Ellia said on this project:
"One evening I had the idea of inviting people from all conditions and walks of life to participate in producing a collective work. I would cut out and distribute each of the 600 hundred pages of the book [Mein Kampf] randomly, or to people of my choice. These 600 contributors would represent the deaths of over 6 million deportees.The objective is to express on each page the emotion it evokes. Together we will recreate the book. It will become « Our Combat » "

"Every page returned to me provokes a profound emotion. Together we will experience a new reading of the pages we have rewritten. Do not hesitate to contact me to react, or to participate in this project. I am interested in all of your ideas.This combat is not an isolated act. I intend to follow it up by creating an association for artists involved in defending causes. It will address all forms of artistic disciplines. A Laureate will be elected each year. The role of this award will be to help engaged artists realize their projects."

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See the project's site: NOTRE COMBAT.

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The range of techniques and approaches used in this project is quite amazing (considering that many of the participants were not artists). Erasing, tearing, stitching, drawing, pasting, combining, hiding, inserting and many other techniques were used to reveal or deny, to condemn or recall. Many of these awesome visions are clearly fighting the ghost which is creeping through these lines, by tearing apart these words, transcending them. Some of the works just show the scars, the wounds while others depict the dreams of a better, safer world.

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More about Erasure Projects.

More about the words of the Third Reich.

Frog - Compressed

PL(FR((P-int/O\ld-ND))G)P!



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See Matsuo Bashô: Frog Haiku
(Thirty-one Translations and One Commentary)
on Bureau of Public Secrets
"This is probably the most famous poem in Japan, and after three hundred and more years of repetition, it has, understandably, become a little stale for Japanese people. Thus as English readers, [...]"

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Original
Furu ike
yakawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

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More about Frogs
Jean-Pierre Brisset: La grande nouvelle

Poetry meets illustrators - Allen Ginsberg & Eric Drooker

On Eric Drooker's Website:

ILLUMINATED by Allen Ginsberg illustrated by Eric Drooker:

"A collaboration between two visionaries of different generations: Ginsberg, quintessential Beat Poet, and Drooker, artist of the Metropolis, have joined forces in this lavish full-color book. The groundbreaking poem "Howl" is included in its entirety, along with dozens of Ginsberg's songs and poems—some available only in this collection—accompanied by Drooker's paintings and drawings, which add a new dimension and urgency to the poets words." + Animated sequence from this book also visible here.

Invented Languages - Merdogon

LEO'S CARAX - HYMN TO MERDE




Merdogon is an invented language created by Leos Carax. The way this language was constructed remains a mystery but it sounds beautiful especially through the mouth of Denis Lavant (the actor in the video) who is a sort of modern Antoine Artaud possessed by his repetitive imprecations and furious glossolalia.

Those who know Denis Lavant, one of the most intriguing and fascinating French actors will be thrilled to see his amazing performance in this new video clip. And those who don't, will discover his hectic body, his terrible groans and his angular face serving this incredible language of his: the language of "MERDE" (SHIT).

For some bizarre reason, Leos Carax called this language: MERDE; probably implying that the mouth is the anus of our soul, that our thoughts can deliver stinking messages, that our words are loaded with the most depraved meanings. Well maybe, or maybe not. Anyway, those who do not see the poetry in this song should probably move to another blog or see this other incredible performance of Denis Lavant in UNKLE's video, Rabbits in your headlight (feat. Thom Yorke).




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A clip by Leos Carax, inspired by his film "Merde" (part of the feature film "Tokyo!'), with Denis Lavant singing in Merdogon (the language invented for the film). **Music : Doctor L. **Lyrics : Lavant & Carax. **Featuring Alison Mosshart (VV from The Kills). **Images : Caroline Champetier. **Editing : Nelly Quettier

Erasure Projects - erased projections

** The O Mission Repo by Travis Macdonald: another recent shadow filled with traumatic calls, with synchronic light about a subject as legal as old letters found in memories (source text: The 9/11 Commission Report)


**The ms of m y kin by Janet Holmes: The idea is that the page is a delicious coincidence: two words must reflect the speakers and my luminescent intention behind them, in Iraq (source text: "The Poems of Emily Dickinson")


**Radi Os by Ronald Johnson: If you teach Lost excision with an elegant constellation, the first fruit of that forbidden death is quite a revision! There's nothing greater about the chosen rose out of Chaos. Think of it as the latent argument of my vision and order the universe now comparing with the originals from Lost versions that I don't remember or, if you like, you could call it a home (source text: Milton's Paradise Lost).


**A Humument by Tom Phillips: Like most angels in a withdrawn and humourless mood, the verbal disposition of the landscape, if occasionally tortuous, was first divided into an earthy sound and an attempt to fall in love with a pale Requiem: after interlude. Yet a new quest started. As a result of some kind of impulse this slow being was not unaware of the need to be a reasonable example of massive deconstruction: in a sense, the world exists in order to end (source text: A Human Document by W.H. Mallock).


**[where late the sweet] BIRDS SANG by Stephen Ratcliffe: As opposed to meaning itself, all traces of negative echoes, hidden within, suggest the absence of dividends, demanding a framework for dramatization. In this sense, we can begin to lament — we can mutate and derive meaning from a comparison between fruitless separation and my present feeling (source text: Shakespeare’s Sonnets).


**The Tibetan Stroboscope by d.a. levy: Apparently the opening of the book was not part of the aesthetic of this culture but for now this somewhat sloppy avoidance integrated a strong sense of the necessity of mutual destruction. This emphasizes a more intense and more urgent elitism.


**Nets by Jen Bervin: Upon first glance, protean indeterminacy depends upon a Humument perspective, from pole to pole. Through the golden eye refashioning apotheosis, playful images suggest a rubbing from an old RADI OS perpetually tracing The Fiction of light. At least one weakness engenders a startling effect of culmination beyond pleasure and life (source text: Shakespeare’s Sonnets).


**Thus & by Derek Henderson: The following contraction is conspicuous by its presence devoted to quiet announcement While many of the missing fascinations include the arrival of possessive forms. Given that only silent dwarfs draw the reader’s attention, we see that supple changes escape the patternless pattern of appropriation / renunciation (source text: Ted Berrigan’s The Sonnets).

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And also:
**Al Hitman's Eaves of Ass (after Whitman)
**Austin Kleon's Newspaper Blackout Poems
**Dan Waber's collective Altered Books
**And in French F. Serra's Lierre (after Lacan's Lituraterre) etc.

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Zardoz, another famous reference to erased literature.

And within the realm of comics, Jochen Gerner's TNT (after Hergé's Tintin en Amérique)

Le Plancher de Jeannot (Art Brut)

"THIS" is called "Jeannot's wooden floor" (Le Plancher de Jeannot).

Prior to becoming a breathtaking piece of Art Brut, this floor belonged to a farm which was owned by Jeannot's parents. His father had committed suicide (reasons remain unclear). Jeannot lived in this isolated farm with sister and mother. The three of them lived as outcasts and never mingled with the neighbours or the town folks. At nights, he used to ride his tractor and drive around their property with a gun to prevent any hypothetical intrusion. He would never let anyone in and started becoming highly aggressive. In 1971, Jeannot was a young man then (33 years old) who suffered from delusions and an intense paranoia. He never saw a doctor but some testimonies (occasional visitors) all indicated serious signs of "madness". When their mother died, brother and sister first accommodated her by the fireside so that she would “keep warm”. Their mother was buried a few days later under the staircase and Jeannot went into extreme seclusion inside his bedroom. Jeannot started to write, literally carving the wooden floor with his knife. His bedroom floor was turned into an open book of incredible size (15 square meters) on which he recorded his hate, his fears, his panic. At the same time, Jeannot stopped feeding himself and progressively starved to death. Two decades after, in 1993, his sister Paule was found dead in the pigsty dressed with rags taken from potato bags: she had never left the house and for all these years had refused all kinds of assistance. What the furniture dealers found when they entered the house was a real pandemonium, an incredible amount of junk had invaded all the rooms but there, in a bedroom, their attention was struck by the notes written on the floor. The latter was sold and ended up in the hall of a pharmaceutical company which is involved in the treatment of schizophrenia. "Jeannot's wooden floor" was recently donated to the Hôpital Sainte-Anne where it is being exhibited. Jeannot's work is now recognised as a masterpiece of Art Brut. The full text is transcribed below.

Jeannot' text:

"La religion a inventé des machines à commander le cerveau des gens et bêtes et avec une invention à voir notre vue à partir de rétine de l’image de l’œil abuse de nous santé idées de famille matériel biens pendant sommeil nous font toutes crapulerie l’Eglise après avoir fait tuer les juifs à Hitler a voulu inventer un procès type et diable afin prendre le pouvoir du monde et imposer la paix aux guerres l’Eglise a fait les crimes et abusant de nous par électronique nous faisant croire des histoires et par ce truquage abuser de nos idées innocentes religion a pu nous faire accuser en truquant postes écoute écrit et inventer toutes choses qu’ils ont voulu et depuis 10 ans et abusant de nous par leur invention a commandé cerveau et à voir notre vue a partir image rétine de l’œil nous faire accuser de ce qu’il nous font à notre insu c’est la religion qui a fait tous les crimes et dégâts et crapulerie nous en a inventé un programme inconnu et par machine à commander cerveau et voir notre vue image rétine œil… nous faire accuser nous tous sommes innocent de tout crime tort à autrui nous Jean Paule sommes innocents nous n’avons ni tué ni détruit ni porte du tort à autrui c’est la religion qui a inventé un procès avec des machines électroniques à commander le cerveau sommeil pensées maladies bêtes travail toutes fonctions du cerveau nous fait accuser de crimes que nous n’avons pas commis la preuve les papes s’appellent Jean XXIII au lieu de XXIV pour moi et Paul VI pour Paule l’Eglise a voulu inventer un procès et couvrir les maquis des voisins avec machine à commander le cerveau du monde et à voir la vue image de l’œil fait tuer les juifs à Hitler ont inventé"

Jeannot's work is now visible at the Hôpital Ste Anne, 7 rue Cabanis, Paris 14

VRAOUM ! - Comics & Contemporary Art - La Maison Rouge (Paris)

[Gilles Barbier - L'Hospice]

VRAOUM ! - Treasures of Comics & Contemporary Art is a thrilling exhibition which will be taking place at the Maison Rouge in Paris from May 28 to Sept 27. More than 200 original strips will be exhibited as well as +80 art pieces from contemporary artists. The curators of this exhibition are David Rosenberg and Pierre Sterckx. Press Release (PDF). Some of the themes explored here include the following: Pioneers, Hergé, Western, Science Fiction, Manga, Speech Bubbles, Super-Heroes, etc.

Note that my friend Inuit Siniswichi (with whom we currently are working on a new book) will be featured in the Vraoum catalogue.

Featured artists:
Chiho Aaoshima ( Japon 1974) , Daniel Authouart (France 1943) , Olivier Babin ( France 1975), Gilles Barbier (Vanuatu 1965), Carl Barks (Etats -Unis 1901-2000) , Virginie Barré (France 1970), Jean-Michel Basquiat (Etats-Unis 1960- 1988), Enki Bilal (France 1951) , Ol ivier Blanckart (Belgique 1959) , François Boucq (France 1955) , Martin Branner (Etats-Unis 1888- 1970) , Émile Bravo (France 1964) , Enrique Breccia (Argentine 1946) , Edmond François Calvo (France 1892-1957) , Mil ton Canif f (Etats-Unis 1907- 1988) , Hsia-Fei Chang (Taiwan 1973) , Roman Cieslewicz (Ukraine 1930- 1996) , Robert Combas (France 1957) Didier Comès (Belgique 1942) , Guido Crepax (Italie 1933-2003) , Robert Crumb (Etats-Unis 1943) , J im Davis (Etats-Unis 1945) , Phil Davis (Etats-Unis 1906- 1964) , Wim Delvoye (Belgique 1965) Bob De Moor (Belgique 1925- 1992) , Hervé Di Rosa (France 1959) , Phil ippe Ber thet (France 1956) , Sammy Engrammer (France 19686) , Erró ( Islande 1932) , Will Eisner (Etats-Unis 1917), Fmur (pseudonyme de Richard Peyzare) (France 1946), André Franquin (1924-1997), Fred (pseudonyme de Fred Othon Arist idès) (France 1931) , Hal Foster (pseudonyme de Harold Rudolph Pinter) (Etats-Unis 1892- 1981) , Philippe Geluck (Belgique 1954) , Jochen Gerner, (France, 1970) , Paul Gil lon (France 1926) , Jean Giraud (pseudonyme : Moebius) (France 1938) , Gotl ib (pseudonyme de Marcel Gotlieb) ( France 1934) , Clarence Gray ( 1902- 1957) , Greg (pseudonyme de Marcel Regnier) (Belgique 1931-1999) , Jean Graton (France 1923) , Keith Haring (Etats-Unis 1958-1990) , Gene Hazelton (Etats-Unis 1919-2005), Hergé (pseudonyme de Georges Rémi) (Belgique 1907-1983), George Herriman (Etats-Unis 1880- 1944) , Burne Hogarth (1875- 1950) , Victor Hubinon (Belgique 1924- 1979) , Pierre Huyghe (France 1962) , Richard Jackson (Etats-Unis 1939) , Edgar P. Jacobs (Belgique 1904-1987) , Beni to Jacovitti (1923- 1997) , Ji jé, (pseudonyme de Joseph Gil lain) (Belgique 1914- 1980) , Art Keller, Walt Kelly (Etats-Unis 1913- 1973) , Harold Knerr (Etats-Unis 1882- 1949) , Peter Land (Danemark 1966), Bertrand Lavier (France 1949) , Pierre La Police, Hyungkoo Lee (Corée 1969) , Liberatore ( I tal ie, 1953) , Loustal (pseudonyme de Jacques de Loustal ) (France 1956) , David Mach (Ecosse 1956), Raymond Macherot (Belgique 1924) , Nikita Mandryka (Tunis ie 1940) , Jacques Mart in (France 1921), Winsor McCay (Etats-Unis 1869- 1934) , David McDermot t & Pierre McCough (Etats-Unis 1952 et 1958) , George McManus (Etats-Unis 1880- 1944) , Phil ippe Mayaux (France 1961) , Ot to Mes smer (Etats-Unis 1892- 1983) , Jean-Claude Mézières (France 1938) , Mariko Mori ( Japon 1967) , Bob De Moor ( 1925- 1992) , Charles Monroe Schulz ( 1922-2000) , Rober t Morris (pseudonyme de Maurice Bervère) (Belgique 1923-2001) , Mr. ( Japon 1969) , Murakami , ( Japon, 1972) , Rivane Neuenschwander (Brés il 1967) , Gosha Ostretsov (Russie 1967) , Richard Felton Outcault (Etats-Unis 1863- 1928) , Guil laume Par is (Côte d’Ivoi re, 1966) , Sylvain Par is (France 1965) , Phil ippe Par reno (Oran 1964) , Bruno Peinado (France 1970) , Joyce Pensato (Etats-Unis), Peyo (pseudonyme de Pier re Cul l iford) (Belgique 1928- 1992) , Raymond Pet t ibon (Etats-Unis 1957) , Jean-Marc Reiser (France 1941- 1983) , Joseph Pinchon (France 1871 - 1953) , Picasso (Espagne 1881- 1973) , Hugo Prat t ( I tal ie 1927- 1995) , Pascal Rabaté (France 1961) , Benjamin Rabier ( 1864-1939) , Alex Raymond (pseudonyme de d’Alexandre Gil lepsie Raymond) ( 1909- 1956) , Bud Sagendorf ( 1915- 1994) , Alain Saint-Ogan ( 1895-974) , Henr ik Samuelsson (Suède 1960) , Mathieu Sapin (France 1974) , Riad Sattouf (France 1978) , Mar jane Satrapi ( I ran 1969) , Peter Saul (Etats-Unis 1934) , François Schui ten (Begique 1956) , Charles Monroe Schulz (Etats-Unis 1922-2000) , Alain Séchas (France 1955) , Jacques Tardi (France 1946) , Aya Takano ( Japon 1976) , Maurice Tilieux (Belgique 1922- 1978) , Adr ian Tranquil l i ( I tal ie, 1966) , Lewis Trondheim (France 1964) , Fabien Verschaere (France 1975) , Vuk Vidor (Serbie 1965) , Wil ly Vandersteen (Belgique 1913-1990) , Wang Du (Chine 1956) , Andy Warhol (Etats-Unis 1928) , Wil l (pseudonyme de Willy Mal taite) (Belgique 1927-2000) , Chic Young (pseudonyme de Murat Bernard Young) (Etats-Unis 1901- 1973) , Yi Zhou (Chine 1978) ,

Wilfried Hou Je Bek - Marubo Demon Songs

Song 1

I am the first one
That part of me which is blue
Tells of blue snakes
It is speaking of certain truths
& of my dick
I speak
I am the first one
We descend from shamans
We are the children of the jaguar-people
We are twigs of the jaguar-tree
The place of blood
Creates the demon-child
The blood of the bird-person
The place of blood
& to teach is to create
When the last word is spoken
This is what I think
This is what I say
I am dead
I am dead
But I will come back in better shape
Ahhhhhh! This is what I had to say! Ahhhhh!


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Song 12.

My body has changed
My head is a fly-demon
My teeth are jaguar-demons
My teeth are beyond my control
My body is crooked
And my sisters
Use the foam
Of demon-herbs
To paint my back
& I go dancing
Along sun-paths
Along downward paths
Downwards I walk


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Song 15.

I am the first one
I will become the açaí-demon
Above us are clouds
Racing through the sky
This is as it has always been

The shape the demon-keeper
The leaves of the tree-demons
Those leaves rustle
They remind me of a swarm of bird-demons
Countless of them are moving
They are the same
While I am singing
I suck from my lips
The juice of tobacco
Ahhhhhh! I say! Ahhhhhhh!
I am the first one
Whom with fresh leafs
Has his chest
Adorned with images
The geometry-demons
Geometry is the teacher
The images on my chest
They control the demons
I am the demon of demons


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PS
These are shamanic songs of the Marubo people who live in the Jawari-basin in Western Amazonia. They have been in contact with the non-indigenous world since the end of the 19th century and are now growing in number after a century of decimation. These songs are taken from Pedro N. Cesarino's ethnopoetic study 'ONISKA: A poética da morte e do mundo entre os Marubo da Amazônia ocidental' (pdf), a brilliant overview of the oratory tradition of the Marubo in relation to their cosmology. To my regret I have to say that I haven't actually read it because it is in Portugese, a language I have no command of. What I have done instead is to first map all words of these songs to their English dictionary equivalent and after that I have recreated/rewritten them in my image of what an Amazonian shaman should sound like. The current use of the word shaman, the way shamanism as an Amazonian practise is understood, is too simplistic. The shaman is the poet/academic/healer of the tribe, having knowledge of the medicinal effects of thousands of plants, but the shaman is also a belligerent witch-doctor casting spells and evoking doom over the enemies of his tribe. In the worldview of the Amazonian indian the spirit world and the real world are without clear demarcation. The world of the Indian is dark and Gothic, an unforgiving world in which evil can and does invade everything, hiding in animals, plants and friends alike. My version of the Marubo songs are dramatized towards this effect.

Wilfried Hou Je Bek
SocialFiction.org

JG Ballard (in memoriam) - Miracles of Life

"My years in the dissection room were important because they taught me that though death was the end, the human imagination and the human spirit could triumph over our own dissolution" (145)

"In the last few years The Atrocity Exhibition seems to be emerging from the dark, and I wonder if the widespread use of the Internet has made my experimental novel a great deal more accessible. The short paragraphs and discontinuities of the morning's emails, the overlapping texts and the need to switch one's focus between unrelated topics, together create a fragmentary world very like the text of The Atrocity Exhibition" (Miracles of Life, p. 237)

Triling - Jean-René Lassalle (Cynthia 3000)

"2.1 drainage des sangsues au cimetière de sable
blanc, paniers à taille dé-robent
ludionnants non-chasseurs
suce-mirabelles en mirador [...]

2.2 leeches weigh
on a graveyard of white sand
each dress a no-flag drives
wearied hunters into vertigo from a worm-eaten
watchtower acting on a myriad bells [...]

2.3 entwässerung durch blutigel
im friedhof aus weissem sand und schwindel
von müden nicht-jägern ab
dem wachturm in endlosschraube [...]"

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Triling - Jean-René Lassalle (Cynthia 3000)

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Trilingual stream of consciousness in which meaning is altered as it is processed by the different tongues. Or maybe this is just an echo chamber where voices cross-over and feed on each other. Or maybe, this is the painful transcription of forgetful translators who suddenly decide to create and convey their own meaning of things. Or maybe this is a game played by a group of bored kids who do not understand each other but finally manage to communicate in some bizarre manner. Or maybe this is a machine endlessly encrypting a mysterious text that some post-exotic rebel was trying to hide. Whatever. We hate explanations.

André Martel - Génémonte (+ translation)

Génémonte - Epope
By André Martel

(click on image to enlarge)

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Erroneous translation made in ZSWinland


HUMANEON
.................O
.................O
.................O
....ANTHROPICAL
......................I
......................I
......................I
..............MANIMAMAL
............................A
............................A
............................A
........................CRAWLEPTEROUS
..........................................T
..........................................T
..........................................T
......................................ARTHROPUDDING
........................................................U
........................................................U
........................................................U
.............................................MOLLUSCUM
.................................................................M
.................................................................M
.................................................................M
.................................................................AMOEABLE
.............................................................................A
.............................................................................A
.............................................................................A
.........................................................................GLASSIFOROUS
............................................................................................R
............................................................................................R
............................................................................................R
.............................................................................MUDITERRANEON

James Joyce - Thunderwords - POP translation

FW003 (thunder):
"bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk"

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baba
BA BA BA BA Barbara Ann, Ba ba ba ba Barbara Ann, Barbara Ann, Take my hand

bad
BAD, You know I'm bad, I'm bad-you know it, (Bad bad-really, really bad)

algharaghta
I'LL GO I'LL GO I'LL GO RIGHT DOWN the road

kamminar
CAMINAR y caminar desde tus pies a tu cogote, como camina el trovador.

ronn
RUN, run, run, run, run, take a drag or two, run, run, run, run, run

konn
CONGO, deep down in the jungle, I started bangin' my first bongo

bronn
BROWN sugar how come you taste so good, (a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl

tonerron
THUNDER Road sit tight take hold, Thunder Road

tuonn
Sixteen TONS, whadaya get? Another older and deeper in debt

thunn
THUNDER, lightning - ooh, every time we touch. Thunder, lightning - I need it so much

trovarr
EXTRAVERT or introvert, Love is kind, and love hurts

houn
HOUNDS of love are hunting ; I've always been a coward

aw nsk awn
HER OWN SKY, she lives by the way she flies

toohoohoordenen
sucking TOO HARD ON YOUR lollipop Oh, love's gonna get you down

thurnuk
We all wear the same THORNY CROWN

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With a little help from my friends: The Beach Boys, Michael Jackson, Feist, Amaia Montero, The Velvet Underground & Nico, Manu Chao, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Merle Travis, Giant, Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, Krissie, Mika, Bob Dylan

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POEMS syndrome

POEMS syndrome, also known as Britney ShakeSpeare’s syndrome is associated with abnormal proliferation of ego-poïetin, massive enlargement of blurb vessels and increased thickness of expression. Proliferation of CAPTCHA-ÏKU markers is another clinically recognisable feature. While many criteria of the disease have been fully described, the exact mechanism of the disease has remained elusive. Many treatments have been suggested the effect of many of which is almost anecdotal.

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More CAPTCHA-ÏKUS here and here (on Venereal Kittens).

HomophoniK-Karaoke

Crystal Castles: Untrust us



Lack of Caïn -I know- has been appearin’ so solid
Lack of Caïn eyes is not gonna deform you

La coquine a noué ses bouées inaperçues sans salut
La coquine attise notre goût des foireux

La coca-cola no es buena para sus alumnos
La coca-cola es nostalgia fuera

(repeat)

2008 Reloaded

Portishead: Third

I can't divide or hide from me

I don't know who I'm meant to be

I guess it's just the person that I am

Often I've dreamt that I don't wait

Enjoy the gift of my mistake

But yet again I'm wrong, and I confess

Oh I'm losing myself

My desire I can't have

No reason am I for

Philippe Vasset, Un Livre Blanc (Fayard)
"Interdiction absolue de vider du thryclétirène dans les égouts sous peine de sanction." (Moi, je venais sur les friches non pas pour y vider mon sac mais, plus fondamentalement, parce que j'assimilais, dans les bouches, sur les écrans, le mot, la parole au déchet.

Lutz Bassman: Haïkus de prison (Verdier)
Hier soir j'ai promis
de chuchoter près de sa tête
ne pas renaître surtout ne pas renaître
**********

Soudain pendant l'appel

je pense au jour où plus personne

ne criera mon nom

**********
Avant de s'endormir

le tueur de vieilles et le boucher fou

parlent technique

Lee Ranaldo: Our music (Docks Mag)
our music is unintelligible
inexplicable
flying low under the radar
of yr average radiohead
there for the plucking
yet almost silent
undiscovered still like some
new and ancient language
keeping secrets

Edouard Levé: Suicide (POL)
Tu disais qu'il valait mieux écouter du rock dans une langue étrangère qu'on connaît mal. Que les paroles sont plus belles si on le comprend à moitié. Que le dadaïsme aurait donné du bon rock si les dates avaient coïncidé.

**********

Je ne souffre pas en repensant à toi. Tu ne me manques pas. Tu es plus présent dans mon souvenir que tu ne le fus dans notre vie commune. Si tu vivais encore, tu serais peut-être devenu un étranger. Mort, tu es aussi vivant que vif.

Dave Cooper: Ripple (Seuil)
Un jour j'espère faire des livres d'enfants, mais pour adultes. Comme ceux que j'adorais, mais avec des thèmes adultes. Terrifiants et érotiques.

Chronic'art #46 (100% fake)
Mêlant Tsvetaïeva, Stravinski et Gagarine en une même ronde scandaleuse, 'Scherzophrenia!' des Sputniks est la gemme la plus précieuse du psychédélisme soviétique. A l'occasion de sa réédition, retour sur une sublime anomalie, broyée par la Guerre Froide.

Arnaud Maguet / Pierre La Police: The Supremacist
Nous comprenons votre désarroi et compatissons, mais au jour d'aujourd'hui et pour votre propre santé mentale, voici le seul élément relatif à ce dossier que nous sommes habilités à vous communiquer: le Supremacist est là, et il vous guette.

Hubert Lucot: Grands mots d'ordre (POL)
Il a fallu abattre tous ceux qui connaissaient le soldat inconnu avant sa mort: hommes, femmes, enfants, amis, ennemis.
**********

Les sado-masos ont le sens de la relativité: "On ne discute pas des coups et des douleurs."
**********

Dissimuler de la drogue dans les exemplaires de la Bible serait redondant.

Fénéon Revival
**********

Félix Fénéon: Three Line Short Stories
A dozen hawkers who had been announcing news of a nonexistent anarchist bombing at the Madeleine have been arrested.
**********

After Félix Fénéon: Faits divers de la poésie Américaine et Brittanique

The panelists at the MLA spoke in solemn tones about “The Meaning of Poetry Today.” Then they retired to the cash bar, Rm. 420, Hyatt Hotel, and began to network, in earnest.

Alfred Arteaga (RIP): Net Laguna
Je voudrais dormir au bord du lac,
al lado de este que en inglés es lack,
to sleep beside lo que je voudrais,
junto al lago peut-être nager.
Je voudrais dormir in the wide aire
mentir in the cut, herida mía;
avoir des rêves al revés de anger,
rage, où nagent les anges d’argent,
rien, and rain entero peace of time.
To ask la cuna of first, ¿qué es, pez?
Passé pescado, sin essense, pecado original,
con d’ailleurs de l’essence un seul poisson,
the poison sol au bord laguna cut water
corps de l’eau, de l’heure, and the fold que eres.
Une tranche de la vie, flesh bits, minutiæ,
¿qu’a bu qui a vu qué ha visto l’año que entra quién?


CrashTest: ATROXHITY
A tribute to JG Ballards' Atrocity Exhibition.

Each participant selected a title taken from one of the 15 chapters in the atrocity exhibition.

Georges Perec et Bernard Queysanne: Un homme qui dort (1974, réédition 2007 La Vie est Belle)
Les monstres sont entrés dans ta vie, les rats, tes semblables, tes frères. Les dizaines, les centaines, les milliers de monstres. Tu les repères, tu les reconnais à d'imperceptibles signes, à leurs silences, à leurs départs furtifs, à leur regard flottant, vacillant, effrayé, qui se détourne quand il croise le tien. La lmuière brille encore au milieu de la nuit aux fenêtres mansardées de leurs chambres sordides. Leurs pas résonnent dans la nuit.

Sylvain Courtoux Nihil, inc. (Al Dante)
IMPACT DANS DIX-NEUF SECONDES / Le signal de l'assaut final sera donné par les cinq premières mesures de Atrocity exhibition de Joy Division / le signal de l'assaut final sera donné par les cinq premières mesures de I fought the Law de Clash / IMPACT DANS DIX-HUIT SECONDES /

Sigur Ros: Med sud í eyrumvidspilumendalaust
Þú hatta fjúka lætur í loft
þú regnhlíf snú á hvolf allt of oft
ó nei, ekki
Þú þök að fjúka út á brot sjó
þú hári strjúka faldinum sló
Óhræsisstrákur
Þú (Lalalala lalalala... Lalalala lalalala)
Vindur í hárinu - úú
Vindur í hárinu - úú
Vindur í hárinu - úú
Vindur í...
(Lalalala lalalala... Lalalala)
Þú augu fjúka í sand tárast
Þú tyggigúm í hendir hár fast
Óhræsisstrákur

Maria Soudaïeva - Slogans

Maria Soudaïeva has invented here a verbal guerrilla interweaving names, foreign words, numbers and locations, playing on imperatives and ellipsis, endlessly naming and counting succumbing bodies, destroyed zones and irrational battles. Each sentence is a concentrate of hate and pain as well as a hateful and painful call to action. Each sentence adds violence to the previous one, enlarging its scope, enhancing its aggressiveness or desperation.
I. 20. INFLICT THE FINAL STROKE TO NATACHA AMAYOQ!
I. 21. NOT A SINGLE DREAM LEFT INSIDE NATACHA AMAYOQ’S REMAINS!
I. 22. NATACHA AMAYOQ, WE ARE WITH YOU!

Paradoxically, this language, « langue crypte » as Volodine would say, sounds both familiar and foreign and so is the context : war, terrorism, humans fighting and dying. The itemisation / atomisation of the text seems, at fist, to deconstruct and dissolve the meaning and the landscape. The extreme fragmentation reflects the nature of the fight : struggling against mental and physical destruction, holding onto the last strength, the last hope, or relinquishing altogether all of these:

III. 29. IF NOBODY REMEMBERS YOUR NAME WHEN YOU DIE, FORGET YOUR NAME!

III. 91. IF YOU STILL HAVE A HEAD, THROW IT AWAY!

III. 139. DISGUISE YOUR BODY IF YOU’VE GOT A BODY!

The « langue crypte » is a core but underlying theme within Volodine’s fiction. In most of his novels , he constantly refers to these bizarre voices and sounds originating from clandestine sources, and to these underground books which are written by poets and dissidents. « Slogans » clearly seems to be one of these books and Maria one of these voices. There is no doubt that Maria Soudaïeva probably is the most perfect post-exotic figure that Volodine could ever meet (they even became friends). Besides, her presence and spirit can be detected through most of the female characters in Volodine’s work and her words are actually featured in the novel « Le Port Intérieur » in which Volodine inserts some of Soudaïeva’s claims:

PIRATES OF THE SECOND SEA, COME TOGETHER!

OFFICERS ON THE WOUNDED SHORES, COME TOGETHER!

VETERANS OF THE ARMY OF THE HIVE, COME TOGETHER!

[Antoine Volodine, Le Port Intérieur, page 57, Les Editions de Minuit]


These slogans are meant to be written on walls and read in tunnels, caves or basements. They are meant to be whispered, uttered, muttered or shouted in the middle of ecstatic crowds or, alone, in front of an execution platoon. Maria’s sentences are meant to take the reader’s breath away but tend to elude any immediate interpretation ; some seem to have the same function as those war messages which were broadcasted on the radio (Radio Londres for instance) during WWII calling the Resistance to action. There is the same discrepancy between the mystery/beauty of the metaphors and the violence which these are supposed to trigger:
II. 36. PROTECT THE EGGS, BREAK THE NON-EGGS!
II. 152. NO SPIDER LEFT ON KOROGHO THREE!
II. 299. BEES ON THE FLOWERS AND THEN NITCHEVO!

If Maria Soudaïeva delivers a message, it is both to our senses and to our minds. In appearance absurd and hermetic, her encrypted phrases possess a very peculiar impact and a fascinating effect. As if she were talking an unknown language that everybody could understand.
II. 63. ELEVEN DISGUSTING TONGUES, ONLY ONE STRANGE LANGUAGE!
III. 71. LISTEN TO FOREIGN LANGUAGES WITH THE HUNCH IN YOUR EYES!
III. 144. IF YOU LACK YOUR TONGUE, WHISPER THE WORDS WHICH SPEAK BY THEMSELVES!


Maria Soudaïeva committed suicide in February 2003. The three chapters within this unique work close on similar words:
343. BAD DAYS WILL END
And curiously, three hundred and forty three is the specific number of books written by post exotic writers according to Volodine (in Le post-exotisme en 10 leçons, Gallimard). In this list, the reader is to find two books by Maria Soudaïeva! What we are suggesting here is, not just the bond between author and translator, but also how far Volodine went into the appropriation of Soudaïeva’s text and character. He strongly edited Slogans’ manuscript , certainly created the numbering, selected the order of the sections, possibly invented some of the chapter and section titles. The introduction to "Slogans", written by Volodine himself, is the work of a mythographer (turning Maria’s portrait into a myth) who is also trying to reveal the volodinian nature of Maria’s words and inspiration. Taking a step further and based on Volodine’s heteronymic aspirations, one might be tempted to deduce that Maria Soudaïeva is a post-exotic pseudonym for Antoine Volodine. This interpretation would therefore throw a completely new light on the role of Antoine Volodine as a translator! Furthermore, in Le post-exotisme en 10 leçons (Gallimard) Volodine indicates that one of the outstanding features of this litterary movement is the death of the author and the multiplication of voices, narrators and spokesmen. Maybe, what we have in our hands, this exciting book by Maria Soudaïeva is but the portrait of a fictitious translator as a spokesman or even an incubus altering the text to fit his own vision. One of the great achievements of this book is that we, readers, are lost in the middle of a litterary riddle, a void in which the author possibly belongs to fiction, the translator is a manipulator and the characters’ voices are so (beautifully) encrypted that they hardly provide any clue about who they are and where they are hiding.

Félix Fénéon

Félix Fénéon: Nouvelles en trois lignes / Three line novels

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Bernard, at Essoyes (Aube), 25 years old, knocked down M. Dufert, who is 89, then stabbed his wife. He was jealous

Two gypsies were fighting for the young Colomba, near Belfort. Incidentally, she received from one of them, Sloga, a fatal bullet.

"I want to die like Joan of Arc!" had said Terbaud from the top of a stake he had built with his own furniture. The fire brigade from Saint-Ouen stopped him.

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More info on DB Chirot's new site: Cronaca Souversiva, about Félix Fénéon and Anarkeyology.

ZSWOUNDERGROUND [New]

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE: Zswounderground
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Description
This new project known as ZSWOUNDERGROUND has been recently launched but note that:
=> This is a blog WITHOUT any posts on the home page;
=> ONLY COMMENTS are inserted ;
=> ALL posts are left blank (or may contain an error message) ;
=> Everyting will take place BENEATH the surface, will be hidden from sight, will have to be unearthed (that is to be discovered from the “Comments” area).
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Want to know more?: contact us.