Sun June 9: a journal entry

by Hannah Weiner

10 pages, chapbook

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Hannah Adelle Weiner (née Finegold) (November 4, 1928 – September 11, 1997) was an American poet who is often grouped with the Language poets because of the prominent place she assumed in the poetics of that group.

Weiner was born in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Classical High School, until 1946, and then Radcliffe College. She graduated with a B.A. in 1950, with a dissertation on Graham Greene. Working in publishing and then in Bloomingdale's department store, she was married and then divorced after four years. Weiner started writing poetry in 1963 though her first chapbook, The Magritte Poems after René Magritte, was published in 1970. It is not indicative of her latter work, being "basically a New York School attempt to write verse in response to the paintings of René Magritte". During the 1960s she also organized and participated in a number of happenings with other members of the New York City art scene, where she had been living for some time. These included 'Hannah Weiner at Her Job', "a sort of open house hosted by her employer, A.H. Schreiber Co., Inc."and 'Fashion Show Poetry Event' with Eduardo Costa, John Perreault, Andy Warhol and others in a "collaborative and innovative enterprise that incorporated conceptual art, design, poetry and performance." In the early 1970s, Weiner began writing a series of journals that were partly the result of her experiments with automatic writing and partly a result of her schizophrenia. Judith Goldman claims that politics and ethics were central to a mode of writing she developed and called "clair-style," which used "words and phrases clairvoyantly seen" and that Weiner arrived at a method of composing that employed "these seen elements exclusively." Goldman also provides the insight that "Weiner let no representation of herself circulate that did not take her status as a clairvoyant into account." She influenced a number of the language poets and was included in the In the American Tree anthology of Language poetry (edited by Ron Silliman). Beginning with Little Books/Indians (1980) and Spoke (1984).

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sun June 9

go naked it sits at the typewriter naked
reading large words in the air: type GUILTY
NO GUILTY concentrate CONCENTRATE
appears on forehead, it was meditating and
sat down to write the words EYES OPEN,
goof, and the words were in front of it and
now at the typewriter the words aren't there
anymore success which is back WHY
GO TO SLEEP the words were large and
clear and in straw hat colour. Meredith Monk
Pat calls late high from the concert YOU
she and Barbara too late want to come over
see BED say no. NOT WORDS. It wakes up
hearing a lot of phrases, scared too much
hearing STOP you can't believe it VERY
POSITIVE INTERFERENCE it said by the
bath tub in naked skin TOO CLEAR
UNCONSCIOUS it programmed itself to
get thin however possible without getting
exhausted the strict budget is doing it.
It said it couldn't do it consciously. If it writes
of itself as it then it is the same as it. God it?
PLEASE MEDITATE. Goodbye. It needs a 
sleeping bag Noa's is NOT WARM
ENOUGH. It starts for blanket NOT
COMPLETE, goosedown, allergic NO HEADACHE. It had a headache which
disappeared after it returned to the acu-
puncturist needle in forehead and top
of head, 1 minute no headache. The long 
series of headaches disappeared after first
treatment two weeks ago. He said it was
from spleen. This one came from eating
pork. CONS no ious pronounced us. The
next person. It hasn't wrote it begins SIT
DOWN it sitting it freezes ONE MORE it
didn't have enough space between lines BIG
PEACE it is wondering seriously whether all
the voices yesterday were correct, that is
one had it had plans person had to see Ed
and THROW UP Bernadette no just Ed but
he was seeing Bernadette JOKE it actually
wanted to see Ed alone so maybe it left the 
house to avoid Ed's call enjoy because they
too late were going to a movie and it wanted
to talk because it needs voice appears on the
right hand margin after the roller NOT
SIMPLE moved to the next line time problem
get rest IT WANTS PEACE Ed's voice,
words, coming through yesterday typing
stopped them and it forgot. GUILTY one.
CRAZY WOMAN. DAMP IN AUGUST.
Damp today. VERY SENSITIVE. See
KEEP YOUR VAGINA OPEN on the sub-
way. Don't get tired. Bed it goes to bed as
this is the end of the page, early Sunday.

It does hatha, YOU CAN LIVE LONG IT
ISN'T PREDETERMINED. JACK IS A 
SERIOUS OMISSION. It didn't get back to
Soltanoff. SEE DANGER ON SUNDAY.
NO OMMISSION. NECK at concert it would 
like MONDAY to have neck adjustment.
CIRCLE exercise. It rols its neck around
slowly TAKE IT EASY it is IT'S LAUGHING
Bed. it's 10 to 8. YOU COME HOME YOUR
OBEDIENCE TRAILS ARE OV R so
TRIALS YOU ARE AN OBEDIENT GIRL.
This because you left Bernadette's when it
said GO SOON GO SOON SO SO SO and
a shout OUT you left go to fourth st. ta ta
you ONE O'CLOCK YOU TRY BEGIN
Phoebes BAR it says you go home it goes to
TIN PALACE which reads GO TO PHOEBES
LOVER and LEAVE takes a blanket a
sleeping back from DRINK Ed's loft you saw
Bernadette and Ed and Ed Friedman the
movies girl TAKE THE SHORT CUT that's
straight across town YOU SIT WITH ED
BOWES NOTHING IS SURE OF
ITSELF YOU GET Ed's VOICE
BOWERY PLEASE SIT DOWN
YOUR PLANTS NEED WATER BERNA-
DETTE YOUR VOICE IS TRUE FABULOUS
 YOUR OBEDIENCE BECAUSE
OF FRANCIS at the loft it hears BERNA-
DETTE CALL it calls it GO BREAKDOWN
 B R E A K D O W N
 friend YOU CAN GO HOME GO TO
SLEEP GO TO A MOVIE YOUR OBEDI-
ENCE CALLS FRANCIS THIS WAKES HER
UP IT GETS TWO PAIR some confu-
sion only one fits Chinese pajama
pants from Barry SHUT UP very comfortable
one is much to large BED first it said
DON'T TAKE THEM the black ones and then
SHUT UP GO SOON IS COMING HERE
TUESDAY everyone leaves town YOUR OK
YOU OBEY IT OBEYS YOU YOUR OK
YOUR PETE THANKFUL THRAMBAL
you meet again bar says thank you BUS
TOOTSIE GIRL YOUR MONEY BED NO
SOON YOU TAKE DICTION YOU GO
SOON NO MORE ACUPUNCTURE YOU
FRIEND YOU TAKE THE WORLD A
MAGAZINE would you believe it words get
fainter windows impossible the cat fallls
WEAR DUNGAREES the air must be
clearer FAINT WORDS ta ta SPRING
 YOU READ THE NEGATIVE RHYS
at church in april TOO MUCH TWO
MONTHS READ IN APRIL NOW DIFFI-
CULT at right angles DONT CHOOSE
READ WITH SENSITIVE NO
WORDS red NOW flashes READ WITH
DUNGAREES DONT TRY THE IMPOS-
SIBLE IT HAPPENS IN APRIL it wants it to
reread April is difficult TAKE A DIGESTIVE
GO TO SLEEP BEDS KLEENEX MALCOLM 
COMING ITS TRUE THE WORDS DIS-
APPEAR DONNIE KNOCK KNOCK
 YOUR DRUNKING dont mystify first
question SECOND CHOICE
 says sleeping bag who is first BEST
SECOND FIRSTCHOICE SHAME ON
YOU BE CAREFUL
not consciously GO TO BED YOU
CAN SATISFY BED RHYS TOMORROW
ITS CLASSIC TOWN DONT WRITE
ANYMORE

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