Language to Cover a Page: The Early Writings

by Vito Acconci, Craig Dworkin (Editor)

Poems and other texts from the 1960s by a pioneering conceptual artist that show a continuity with his subsequent work in performance and video art. Pioneering conceptual artist Vito Acconci began his career as a poet. In the 1960s, before beginning his work in performance and video art, Acconci studied at the Iowa Writers Workshop and published poems in journals and chapbooks. Almost all of this work remains unknown; much of it appeared in the self-produced magazines of the Lower East Side's mimeo revolution, and many other pieces were never published. Language to Cover a Page collects these writings for the first time and not only shows Acconci to be an important experimental writer of the period, but demonstrates the continuity of his early writing with his later work in film, video, and performance.

Language to Cover a Page documents a key moment in the unprecedented intersection of artists and poets in the late 1960s--as seen in the Dwan Gallery's series of Language shows (1967-1970) and in Acconci's own journal 0 to 9. Indeed, as Acconci moved from the poetry scene to the art world, his poetry became increasingly performative while his artwork was often structured and motivated by linguistic play.

Acconci's early writing recalls the work of Samuel Beckett, the deadpan voice of the nouveau roman, and the jump cuts and fraught permutations of the nouvelle vague. Poems in Language to Cover a Page explore the materiality of language (language as matter and not ideas, as Robert Smithson put it), the physical space of the page, and the physicality of source texts (phonebooks, thesauruses, dictionaries). Other poems take the space of the page as an analogue to performance space or implicate the poem in a network of activity (as in his Dial-a-Poem pieces). Readers will find Acconci's inventive and accomplished poetry as edgy and provocative as anything published today.

Genres: Poetry

428 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2006

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Language to Cover a Page is divided into six sections: "Idiom", "Printed Matter", "Four Books and Related Text", "Transference and Related Text", "Translations", and "Discourse Networks"...

from "Section I: Idiom"...

1. The cup The cup is there.

2. I take the cup. I take the cup to be there.

3. The ball. The ball moves there.

4. I take the ball, moving, to be there. I take the ball.

5. The Cup. Is there one?

6. The cup is there. Is there one?

7. The ball. Moves.

8. The ball moves there. The moves.

9. When he said, "The cup is there," I knew there was a cup.

10. When he said, "The cup," I knew the cup was there, to the right, where he pointed.
- pg. 5

*

(he asked) (what happened) (when it went) (on)
(he asked) (around)
(he asked) (about)
(it)
(he asked)
("What happened when) (. . . ?") (there was)
(a question) (like) (this) (as)
(to the rest)
(he asked) (again)
("What happened when) (it went) (on?")
(she answered) (that)
(she answered) (it) (then)
(she answered) (that it went) (off)
(she answered) (this) (:)
(that it went) (off)
(she answered) (back) (really) ("It went off.")
- pg. 12

*

He holds out a weight with arm out --
And then puts it down and waits.

He tries to think to remember a name --
And finally finds out: "Nan."
- pg. 25

*

small
round
loose
heavy
blue
slanted
flat
shorter
hard
parallel
wide
straight
bright
smooth
shallow
heavier
folded
curved
rough
tall
uneven
faded
soft
wooden
horizontal
blurred
green
circular
sharp
open
identical
light
rippled
thin
hollow
broken
large
- pg. 36

*

When I am reading this
I am upside down when
- pg. 39

*

Then it was set down there (and)
Then and there (and) There it was
(and) You have it (and) Here
it is (and) It is set (and) One
down (and) There is none now (end) 
- pg. 45

*

Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Now I am here. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
- pg. 54

*

I have made my point
I make it again
It
Now you get the point.
- pg. 55

*

I am here
(again)
(again)
(again)
I am here as I go by
(gain)
(gain)
(gain)
- pg. 56

*

I am here.
I am here as I go by.
I do it, go into the other.
I do without it, stop outside.
- pg. 57

*

I am going from one side to the other.
am
going
from
one
side
to
the
other.
- pg. 69

from "Section II: Printed Matter"...

9 bricks
9 sheets of paper

* * *

8 pieces of burlap
8 sheets of paper

* * *

7 pieces of fiber glass
7 sheets of paper

* * *

6 flagstones
6 sheets of paper

* * *

5 pieces of marble
5 sheets of paper

* * *

4 pieces of pig-iron
4 sheets of paper

* * *

3 piece of plastic
3 sheets of paper

* * *

2 tiles
2 sheets of paper

* * *

1 wooden plank
1 sheet of paper

* * *

46 pieces of material
- pg. 93-102

*

A SHEET a sheet a sheet 'a sheet' covers this page
and protects it from coffee stains, etc.,
that are on another level, we're on another level now, etc.
- A SHEET, pg. 119

from "Section III: Four Books and Related Text"...

chore door fore gore hear core corps lore score FOUR
cook hook look hook rook brook crook shook took BOOK

- pg. 153

*

I.

1.
he called her, hello.

1.
He called her Helen.

1.
He called her, heeling.

1.
He called her healing.

1.
He called her heeling.

I.

1.
She called him back.

1.
Her was the front.

1.
Back again, she called him back.

1.
This was the unexposed side.

1.
It was an insult to him.

1.
She called him down

[...]

- ONCE, pg. 190

from "Section IV: Transference and Related Text"...

1
N.
s
a
m
a
s
n
l
l
s
l
e
l
p
e
p
re
t
c
t
f
f
l
d
d
b
m
es
n
3
c
5
s
r
Ad
t
p
i
u
t
c
e
n
v
s
p
l
p
re
t
a
g
r

INSTALLATION, LEFT MARGIN: FROM PAGE 1, ROGET'S THESAURUS (ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, 1965), TO PAGE 241, LANGAUAGE TO COVER A PAGE.
- Transference, pg. 241

from "Section V: Translations"...

.
he moved slowly along the road
.
he wanted to keep moving, no matter what the obstacle
.
the plot of the drama moves swiftly
.
a melody that moves smoothly
.
they remained outside the town for about one day and then moved inside and began the campaign
.
it was getting late and I thought it was time to be moving
.
in chess the bishop moves diagonally
.
his turn to move
.
she did not like small towns and decided to move to the city
.
they had a line of good that was moving very slowly
.
some books in public libraries hardly even seem to move
.
so frightened that she stood rigid and didn't move
.
I though she moved slightly when we were introduced, but it was impossible to be sure
.
the boat moved slowly from side to side at its mooring as the wind rose
.
he pushed and pushed but the door wouldn't move
.
for a while there was not much to do, bu suddenly things really began to move
.
in him we live, and move, and have our being
.
now he moves in only the nest of circles
.
you must move very carefully so as not to offend her
.
the time has come for us to make up our mind and move
.
the delegate moved for a reconsideration of the suggestion
- PINPOINT (POINT OF VIEW): 3, pg. 281

*
about
above
across
against
around
aside
away
back
behind
below
between
by
down
east
far
forward
here
in
into
left
near
north
on
onto
over
right
south
there
through
to
under
up
upon
west
with

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
FOUR SIDES (ON EDGE) : margins to an indeterminate space
- pg. 

*

mutilate, ventilate, cancellate, flagellate | levitate, occulate, edentate, segmentate


-- SHIFT: LINE 6, PAGE 6, WHITEFIELD'S UNIVERSITY RHYMING DICTIONARY (NEW TORK: CROWELL, 1951; APOLLO EDITION, 1964)

- pg. 319

*


- REMOVAL, MOVE (LINE OF EVIDENCE), pg. 368

from "Section VI: Discourse Networks"...

This is a reference to one cubic inch of the snow piled at the curb in front
of the parking meter in front of the first vertical row of panes on the door
at 82 Christopher Street, New York City, today.
- REFERENCE WORK: MEASURE, WEATHER, LOCATION, TIME, pg. 380

*

1. The sun rises today, Thursday, December 26, 1968
2. At 7:18 A.M., sets at 4:34 P.M., and will rise
3. tomorrow at 7:18 A.M. The moon sets today at 11:49
4. rises at 12:10 P.M. tomorrow, and will set tomorrow
5. at 12:38 A.M. Warmer weather and clear to cloudy skies
6. will cover most of the eastern portion of the nation
7. today while snow is expected to fall on the western
8. lake region, the Northern Plains States, and from
9. the upper Mississippi Valley to the plateau region. Showers
10. will fall on Arkansas, southern Arizona, and New
11. Mexico. Colder temperatures will be felt from the Western
12. Plains States temperatures will be felt from the Western
13. Plains States to the Pacific Coast. Snow and snow
14. flurries fell over much of the nation yesterday,
15. centering in sections of New England, the Ohio Valley,
16. the lake region, and the Northern and Central Plains
17. were felt in the Southeast while cold weather was the rule
18. elsewhere. Rain fell over the Southwest and along
19. the Pacific Coast. As of 11 P.M. in New York City,
20. it will be sunny today, high twenty to twenty-five, winds
21. northwesterly fifteen to twenty miles an hour becoming
22. variable and diminishing to about ten miles an hour
23. tomorrow; fair tonight, low fifteen to twenty. Cloudy
[...]
- Act 3, Scene 4, pg. 389

*

1. The ten rules for walking down 52nd Avenue, between Haspel Street and Van Horn Street, Queens, New York.

2. The ten rules for walking down 85th Street, between 69th Avenue and 67th Avenue, Queens, New York.

3. The ten rules for walking down Hillside Avenue, between Seward Avenue and 87th Avenue, Queens, New York.

4. The ten rules for walking down Maple Street, between Schenectedy Avenue and Troy Avenue, Queens, New York.

5. The ten rules for walking down Linden Boulevard, between Barbey Street and Schenk Avenue, Queens, New York.

6. The ten rules for walking down 99th Street, between 158th Avenue and 159th Avenue, Queens, New York.

7. The ten rules for walking down Weller Avenue, between 241st Street and Brookville Boulevard, Queens, New York.

8. The ten rules for walking down Beach Avenue, between Gotham Avenue and Florence Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

9. The ten rules for walking down Ocean Promenade, between Beach 58th Street and Beach 57th Street, Queens, New York.

10. The ten rules for walking down McNeil Boulevard, between Ocean Boulevard and Park Street, Nassau Country, Long Island, New York.
- TEN SITUATIONS, pg. 401

*

Begin: When I'm well into walking and can be
- My Performance of "I'm Walking", pg. 404

*

a b
a box rolls, on
a box, rolls, on, too
 x y
- Unfinished, pg. 408

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This era of experimentation is kinda just straight bullshit. Most Americans were just flailing trying to find ways to move forward the avante garde that had come to shore a generation prior. The problem is these American avant-garde conceptualists like Acconci have a half assed approach to art, which sees the method of experimentation as the matter at hand, embodying the adage of "language as matter and not as ideas." unfortunately for these sex obsessed sleaze balls masquerading as artists, it's both.