Oulipos Coordinates Conceptualized by Mike Garofalo

Oulipos Coordinates Conceptualized

 

I. Punctuated Still-Life

 

                                    &&&&&
                           $$$$$
                  ;;;;;

                             @@@@@

 

#####	Counted	#####
.....	Asserted	.....
?????	Questioned	?????
!!!!!	Exclaimed	!!!!!
,,,,,	Paused	,,,,,

 

Compare with four pages of random punctuation
marks by Elizabeth Clark, Between Worlds.

 

II. Hidden Codes

A1 B2 C3 D4 E5
F6 G7 H8 I9 J10
K11 L12 M13 N14 O15

16P 17Q 18R 19S 20T
21U 22V 23W 24X 25Y
               Z26

Compare with six pages of meaningless codes
by Vito Acconci, Removal.

 

III. We/We/We

we see
we want
we steal
we lie
we use AI

Compare with twelve pages of brief phrases
beginning with the word 'my' by
Charles Bernstein, My/My/My.

 

IV. Counting Down

six, sixty, six hundred,
five thousand, five million,
four billion, four trillion,
Three, Two, One
Zero

Compare with ten pages of words for numbers
by Claude Closkey, The First Thousand Numbers

 

V. What?

ArE swbath blaZe muteRing empty RocKet
reD ciTIzenS As he desiBA Ntecello golD
comPlaining FocusDownnn Ulla FideNtia
is KelPt stOne CSChUrch btone threadI
mi sPirghi ch'iO gU di pietro Negator' D'usura

Compare with seven pages of misspelled, invented,
and highlighted Non-Words by John Cage,
Writing Through the Cantos.

 

VI. Seeing Three Ways

 

Winter	North	Today
Spring	East	Future
Summer	South	Past
Fall	West	Now
Year	Space	Time

 

 

Compare with thousands of concrete poems,
text art, calligrammes, and graphic messages
as found in the Index to Concrete Poetry
by Mike Garofalo.

 

Reference Sources:

Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual
Writing, 656 pages, 2011. Edited by Craig Dworkin.

Artifice and Indeterminacy: An Anthology of New Poetics,
392 pages, 1998. Edited by Christopher Beach.

The Marginalization of Poetry: Language Writing
and Literary History, 187 pages, 1996.
By Bob Perelman.

Slouching Into Incoherence

Bundled Up: 3,700 Quintain Poems, Volumes 1-8