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D Rain B Loom
Experimental visual poetry by Scott Helmes & John M. Bennett
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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July 12, 2010
I think that visual poetry is still such a neglected form of poetry because of its (obvious) emphasis on appearance rather than language, which, after all, seems to be one of the most recognized characteristics of any literature. When we read, we don't merely see the words and letters--we speak syllables, we hear sounds, we spell suffixes, we taste linguistics, we dance with phonics. Both asemic writing and visual poetry have been around for quite a while by now, but they are nevertheless so new and so alien to most people that they stir general reactions of negativity, ridicule, and confusion. Visual poetry, or "visio-textual art," is still a very fresh concept. As pioneering author Sheila E. Murphy explains in her work "Permutoria," "[It:] draws life from letters, syllables, and words, from line, from curve, to shape, enacting a philosophical geometry in which concept and physical reality are conjoined."
She also goes on to explain in the same work, "Like so many pleasurable artistic endeavors, collaboration often begins with mutual appreciation by the artists of each other's work. The higher the level of trust at the outset, the greater the potential for producing work that is mutually meaningful." An example of visio-textual collaboration which works on several mutually symbolic levels is "D Rain B Loom." Within this anthology of visual poems by Scott Helmes and John M. Bennett is a captivating tornado of linguistics and perception combined, wherein aspects such as color, distortion, typography, and meaning blend wildly and haphazardly in order to establish visual poetry as that which moves beyond the senses--all of them--and reaches toward something much more powerful than what one would typically expect.
She also goes on to explain in the same work, "Like so many pleasurable artistic endeavors, collaboration often begins with mutual appreciation by the artists of each other's work. The higher the level of trust at the outset, the greater the potential for producing work that is mutually meaningful." An example of visio-textual collaboration which works on several mutually symbolic levels is "D Rain B Loom." Within this anthology of visual poems by Scott Helmes and John M. Bennett is a captivating tornado of linguistics and perception combined, wherein aspects such as color, distortion, typography, and meaning blend wildly and haphazardly in order to establish visual poetry as that which moves beyond the senses--all of them--and reaches toward something much more powerful than what one would typically expect.
Displaying 1 of 1 review