Chains

by Derek Beaulieu

Poetry. Art. With CHAINS, derek beaulieu once again turns his attention to how "language regards itself, stalks itself, begins, slowly, to eat itself" (Canadian Literature) in a series of graceful abstractions made entirely from antiquated dry-transfer lettering. In chains, letters gather in elegant arrangements, architectural constructions and sinews of meaning. Derek Bealieu is the author of 4 books of poetry and conceptual writing. In 2005 he coauthored, with Gary Barwin, fragments from the frag pool: haiku after basho, a book of playful translations. In 2006 he co-edited Shift & Switch: new Canadian poetry to wide acclaim. Alberta Views recently referred to Beaulieu as a "mad scientist of visual poetry," and FFWD referred to his 2006 volume fractal economies as having "the potential to be like Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, which taps the veins of jazz for many listeners and musicians. Never read a book of concrete poetry before? This might be the one to hook you."

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

From wikipedia:

Derek Alexander Beaulieu (born 1973) is a Canadian poet, publisher and anthologist.
Beaulieu studied contemporary Canadian poetics at the University of Calgary. His work has appeared internationally in small press publications, magazines, and in visual art galleries. He has lectured on small press politics, arts funding and literary community in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Iceland.
He works extensively around issues of community and poetics, and along those lines has edited (or co-edited) the magazines filling Station (1998–2001, 2004–present), dANDelion (2001–2004), and endNote (2000–2001).
He founded housepress in 1997 from which he published small editions of poetry, prose and critical work until 2004. The housepress fonds are now located at Simon Fraser University. In 2005 he founded the small press no press.
In 2005 he co-edited Shift & Switch: new Canadian poetry with Angela Rawlings and Jason Christie, a controversial anthology of radical new poetry which has been reviewed internationally.
Beaulieu has shifted his focus in recent years to conceptual fiction, specifically visual translations/rewritings. His book Flatland consists of visual patterns based on the typography of Edwin Abbott Abbott's classic novel Flatland and his book Local Colour is a series of colour blocks based on the original text of Paul Auster's novella Ghosts.
How to Write, a collection of conceptual prose, was published by Talonbooks in 2010.
Beaulieu lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure "read" is what you do with this. It is available on the author's website. Probably cooler as an art object rather than a pdf. The rating is from my experience, but probably deserves an additional star, at least, for the method of creation.

[⏺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can be read at the author's website.