Assignment Thirteen

I would define conceptual writing as being as uncreative as possible in the since of reusing things that have already been done, basically plagiarizing and unoriginality, as well as something that is not necessarily meant to be read/seen and something that is a continuous process.

The major difference that I see between Conceptual writing and others like Language or Dada or Oulipo is that conceptual writing focuses more on being as uncreative, as unreadable as possible. The others all have creative twists to them, they make take something already written but they change it somehow, they add to it. As Kenneth Goldsmith stressed, Conceptual writing is taking something already written and rewriting it word for word with no changes what-so-ever. Conceptual writing is, or at least I think it is, trying to take something that everyone has always been taught is bad, plagiarism, and making it OK. I personally don't see how this can be considered poetry or writing, but then again I have always stressed that I believe creativity is the root of writing, not copying.

Assignment Twelve

First off I am gonna admit right now that I do not fully understand the whole New Sentence thing, and I do not even really know what about it I am not getting. But as far as this assignment goes I think I can take a crack at it. It seems that this style of poetry, like L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Poetry, is only for shock value. All it is attempting to do is make people look even closer at what they are reading, so close that they have to pay attention to each individual word. In regular paragraphs you could probably read the first and last sentence to get an overall jist of what the paragraph is about, as well as maybe what the next paragraph will be discussing. But with this New Sentence type writing you cannot do that. If all you read was the first sentence you would have missed everything in the paragraph except that first thing you read. That is where the whole if A=b and B=C then A=C comes in. By avoiding that in New Sentence you still create a paragraph but not anything coherent to every line in that paragraph. I think I am just going around in circles now, my brain hurts. Anyway I think I need to let all this marinate a little more and then maybe I can come up with something a normal person can understand.

On with the creative part of this assignment. This poem just is, there is not really a theme or anything it just is.

Vibrations on the beside table, someone needs my help again. Windows need washing, get to it. Hey turd-bird you ready to go. Stars hidden behind clouds, thunder strikes. Kids screaming as cold water sprays. Shit I forgot to do my paper. This is what left wing is, this is what right is. When are you gonna get your license? Beetles and maggots craw through his eyes. Scratching away from flee bites. I wonder if it will explode if I do this? Gonna ghost ride her bike down the hill, hope it doesn't fall into the creek. Damn gotta fix the screen again, stupid cat clawed it up. Never thought I would see you in this position. Someone has to clean up this mess, is that blood on my pancakes? Toys are scattered everywhere, pictures covered with a black sheet. We need a new couch, maybe we can get leather this time. I love the smell of sheets hung out on the line to dry. Tomorrow is better to do something like that.

Assignment Eleven

OK first can someone tell me how the Fibonacci Sequence works in Tjanting? I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I'm not the best as seeing numerical patterns in words; it hurts my brain.

Actually this who concept hurts my brain. I just can't wrap my mind around someone using patterns to confuse things. Patterns organize, compartmentalize and simplify things. Or at least that's what patterns have done for me. Maybe I don't understand what Kasey was saying, which is very probable.

For the actual creative part of the assignment I decided to write a poem consisting of 19 lines with 8 or 9 letter per line about my life so far. If you can't guess I am 19 so that's why I choose the number, similar to Lyn Hejinian's style in her own book. Its A LOT harder than it seems, I had to take some liberties to make it work.

Continuing Traveling

Born Richmond Virgina.
Then to Clemson where I
Lived for eight years.
Mom returned to college in
Eugene OR my dad, one bro,
and I followed later. I a
kid forced to move again.
Another home in Eugene.
Another school to go to.
Then high school private
and Catholic, Four year
of torture and hell. And
then nightmare come al-
ive. One brother died. Tw-
o days after my 19 b-day. A
needle pierced my ear t-
he same time one enters
His arm. High school end.
Now college commences.

Assignment Ten

I believe Language Poetry is a crock. There is no way someone can write something without meaning. Subconsciously there is always a meaning behind it. And even it was possible to write something without meaning a reader can always find meaning behind it. Meaning can always be found even if it takes some digging to find it.

In the poem "China" at first it seems like a lot of nonsense but the last line speaks of dreams and waking up. The poem is erratic with very little coherence but when you remember dreams often that is the way they seem as well. "Chronic Meanings" reminds me of lines in a book chosen at random, maybe even from various books. I can't remember where I saw it but there is a website dedicated solely to taking books, and crossing out every line except for random places and then using those lines, or even words to create a poem. That is what this poem reminds me of.

Here is my attempt to write a poem without meaning, which like I stated above is completely impossible.

Something random
Along the lines
Black shirt stained white
Degree of boiling
Blue sky over brown mountains
Old West pictures
Hair tied back in a bun
Sleeping cats lie
Cleaning products left out
Surgery to save
Balloons rise higher
Flowers set in the ocean
Blue blood spurting
Toxic waste leaks
Plane takes off
Surveillance misses everything
White lab coats close the door forever

Assignment Nine Con't

I forgot to add the poem that I decided to freestyle which nearly killed me. I wrote it quickly and I haven't made any changes to it yet. Let me know what you think.

Green, Spring, jump up and down
Dogs running all around
Relaxing, Quiet, T.V. on mute
Children sleeping, it's nap time now

The sun is setting
Dinner has not been cooked
Soon mom and dad will be home
The work day done for now

The sun is gone, the moon is here
The stars are hidden by clouds
Rain starts to pour, lightning strikes, thunder booms
Children awaken and run to mom's room now

Mother comforts, father sleeps on
Another clash of thunder
Tears in children's eyes
Storm stops, everything quiet now

Assignment Nine

As a general rule I can not stand newer poetry. I usually don't like it because it breaks away from the traditional rules of poetry which I have always loved. If you ever saw me reading modern poetry it is almost guaranteed it's because it's a required book for a class. I can't stand William Carlos Williams, I won't read Ezra Pound, I avoid Langston Hughes like the plague. I've pretty much always adored traditional poetry, ever since I can remember. When I was young after dinner my family and I would sit down and read poetry to each other, my father almost always chose Whitman, my brothers generally chose Frost, and my mom and I picked which ever poet we wanted to hear for the night, but it was always poetry that adhered to the old rules of meter, rhyme, etc. At the age of six I decided my favorite poem was "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe, later on that changed to "Little Boy Blue" by Eugene Field, later still it became a three way tie between the two previously mentioned and "Oh Captain my Captain" by Walt Whitman. The common theme all of these poems have a rhyme scheme and meter. Now I understand that some of these poets fall into the "modern poets" category but they all still adhere to old, traditional standards. I may be using the wrong words to describe the old way of writing and the newer style of writing, which I am sure Kasey will correct me on, but I hope that the rest of you can understand what I am saying. Obviously this is just my opinion and everyone is welcome to disagree with me, but I would like to hear some similar or different opinions from you.

Assignment Eight

As I have stated somewhere before now, probably in my first post, the "artistic", put in quotes for a reason, "Fountain" is considered, by me, to be a ridiculous sham that makes me question people's opinion of art. I have personally been in various heated discussions over what is art and what isn't. My definition of art has two parts and if one part is missing the piece is not art. It a) must take skill to create, and b) it must be hand made, no pushing a button and out pops a masterpiece kinda thing. It is my belief that the word 'art' is used much to loosely now a days and it drives me mad. To think that a urinal turned on its side with an engraving is considered art is horrifying to me. How can someone compare a urinal to the Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night"? It's completely preposterous! Furthermore one of the biggest arguments against what I believe that I have heard countless times is that "Well art makes you feel something!" This is true I will not deny that art does cause a reaction in our brains to form emotions. But not everything that causes emotions is art, genocide causes extreme emotions in me but it sure as heck is NOT art. It has become to easy for people to claim something is art when all it is, is a piece of trash, like my mother always tells me you can polish a turd but in the end it is still a turd. As I am sure you can tell I have very strong feelings about this.