#ClassicPoetry #NationalPoetryFoolMonth
#poetry
Yesterday I posted about a poem in which I consider whether poetry requires a human voice, humanity, or a voice, and conclude no. My next poem is about another radical consideration: does a poem really require a beginning or an end? (Like the law of headlines: also no.)
This untitled poem was written as a moebius strip. Every time I read I start at a different place. It does not formally end: sometimes I read more of it sometimes less.
1/n
When I was reading the poem once
(or speaking it from memory, no
one is really sure which comes first)
I paused
And started up again later
But how much later?
There is no set time for
a break in a poem
We read them as if they are
trains bumping over railroad ties
But
that is a convention
Once I paused
and people thought it was done
the poem was over
and it wasn't
Will I have to die for them to be sure it's done?
But I've already died,
any time I start
speaking, I could have stopped in mid-poem
years ago, and be about to continue
Or anyone else
could be about to continue a poem
this one or some other
Is there really another?
This wouldn't be
without words read in the past
back through what I've heard, read
what everyone near me did
back to other languages and dim time
It won't be
without people to wonder why
a pause brings a poem, not conversation
People in the future
It includes all that by reference
The poem is the world, by reference
It only has pauses
I'm pretty happy with it
This is the first draft
I'm not sure if there could be another draft
once I started
It
doesn't terminate
except through the usual processes
of death or sleep or boredom
What does it mean
it doesn't end?
When I was reading the poem once
(or speaking it from memory, no
one is really sure which comes first)
I paused
The poem continues here:
https://mastodon.social/@richpuchalsky/116352725301756653
but that is it in this thread for the text of the poem
This poem presents special difficulties. It was written in 2013. Since then, it has been in some sense ongoing, although not mechanically ongoing. So... should I edit it? This is the first draft. When I think of the poem, I think of
"Will I have to die for them to be sure it's done?
But I've already died,"
and I think of it as "But I'm already dead," which is usually a sign that I should edit. But do I really want two versions of a never-ending poem?
Maybe @impermanen_ might have something helpful to say about that aspect: this seems somewhat like a meditative practice.
In any case, the poem also presents publishing difficulties. When it was published I specified no title, not even "Untitled", and no page numbers, because that would imply priority of one page of the poem over another in a this-comes-first way.
Putting in on the web is also difficult. Ideally it would be an everscroll kind of thing where as you go to the bottom you seamlessly continue. But I have no idea how to do this without some kind of "push" page which I find annoying. I don't want it to scroll without a human wanting to keep looking at it.
As a result I've never put it up in any kind of semi-permanent way.
Artists are very picky about this kind of thing. It matters (to us).
/fin
Nice! It reminds me of Queneau's Cent mille milliards de poèmes, which has a good web implementation (link below).
One way you could put it on a static website would be to have a page for each line X containing the whole poem but starting with line X. A little JavaScript on the landing page will allow a random starting page. If they're all formatted the same then clicking to the next one would feel like scrolling.
Thanks! I've bookmarked this and will study it later.
I've considered oulipo but I've never quite done it.
Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝
Adrian Riskin 