The Moviegoer by Dennis Kelly

“There is a clock that never strikes.
There is a cathedral that goes down
and a lake that goes up.”
—Arthur Rimbaud, “Childhood,”
Illuminations

Once upon a time—I was a boy
Dead in the rosebushes—all summer
I had black eyes—and a yellow mop
Without parents—or a royal court

I was insolent—running along
Azure and verdure beaches—full of
Shipless waves—Greek, Slav, Celt
Shades in the balcony—of the Bijou

Actresses—gorgeous giantesses
Ida Lupino—up on the silver screen
Pilgrimages to—that other Land
Where princesses—were tyrannical

Sultanas—Hollywood queen bees
Strolling in the aisles—jewels glowing
In the dark—red velvet curtains in
The little theaters—like the Granada

Without boredom—those verdigris hours
Who needed a western sky—for sunsets?
With all the moviegoers—buried upright
In the balconies—overgrown with images

The curtains going up—fabulous elegance
Reels turning—sluice gates opening
The magic beasts—eternity of hot tears
The smell of popcorn—it made me blush

But now I am—the troubled scholar
Sitting in this dark armchair—brooding
Branches and rain—beating themselves
At the windows—of my quiet library

Even with Blue Ray—giant Flatscreens
I am just a pedestrian—dwarfed now in
Melancholy silence—abandoned child
On the jetty—left behind by high seas

(First published here).

The New Tree by Dennis Kelly

“I was planning a novel

in which two different

species on another world

needed to communicate,

one by light and image,

the other by sound & word”

—ptdiep

they cleaved me—back again

I don’t know how—but they did it

one into two—then two into one

the two that was—too much for me

the two that was one—troubling me

a unique collaboration—doubling me

the denouement of one world—dying

this exsanguination—of another world

all that was not me—my own doing undone

this strange doubling—this unique

collaboration of light & image—joining

sound and words—heads & tails

pairs of I Ching coins—yin yang

tossed in the air—thrown on a rug

split down the middle—joined as one

a pair of trigrams—magic hexagram

t’ai / peace—my laughing bellybutton

rubbing buddha’s belly—making a wish

for me it was—the new me

goodbye to all that—that wasn’t me

there in bed—new jonah and lazarus

contemplating—collaborating

The Healing Tree by Dennis Kelly

“The concept was already

within me, it was inevitable”

—ptdiep

they cleaved the tree—inside me

the murmuring of death—that was me

and I dreamed—of another world

it was my doppelganger—double trouble

and when I woke up—I wasn’t me

I was lost in—the house of pain

a mansion with—many dark rooms

many dark rooms—waiting for the other

teaching me—what I surely didn’t know

nor did I want to know—the hell inside

cut bones, split muscles—bloody nerves

it was all a big mistake—I said to myself

wishing I’d never—made the choice

it sounded so simple—just a valve job

a mere tune-up—and you’ll be brand new

but it wasn’t that easy—pain-killers don’t

kill the pain—pain had its own plans for me

and for a week—pain pinned me down

like an Indian swami—to a bed of nails

I screamed silently—beneath a moon

a thousand nights—Maria Ouspenskya werewolves

no longer a man—more a wounded animal

and they saved my life—for another day

Carbon River Valley by Dennis Kelly

The way the light—slants downward
Northward over—the mountain range
The escarpments—the forested ridges
A winter light—low over the river

Mostly we were there—during summers
Parking the car—on the road leading into
The rainforest—on the northern side of
Mt. Rainier—covered with fir and cedars

Ten years ago—we hiked across ancient
Riverbeds of smooth—rounded boulders
And white-bleached stones—and rocks
To get to Chenuis Falls—on the other side

Standing in the middle—between the two
Sides of a long swath of—glacial debris
Looking up at the ancient—granite towers
From down below—terminal moraine awe

One could hear the river—the mountains
Communing—with each other like Forces
In the I Ching—caught up in hexagramic
Flow of huge spaces—both old and new

Pausing for a cold beer—in the shadow of
Some giant boulder—leaning back and
Looking up at it all—our time together
So brief and fine—like a snapshot

Tree Dream by Dennis Kelly

Tree Dream

—for Phuoc-Tan, Diana, Jennifer & Laurie

last night—i dreamed of yggdrasil

the world tree—over on the coast

there I was—in the hoh river rain forest

by a secluded cabin—deep in the woode

i was standing—on this open porch

there with this tree—a huge thick tree

it was a douglas fir—a sky-high tree

it had crevices—with cleaves going up

thru its dark bark—heavy primitive veins

the giant douglas fir look—the world tree

unlike tall cedars—its skin corrugated

and around this fir—flying birds

crows eagles—woodpeckers seagulls

all of them feasting—engorging themselves

in the crevices and—in the old bark cleaves

I looked closer—what were they eating

thousands of slithering—singing cicadas

cicadas crawling—inching their way

up the sides—up the giant douglas fir tree

flocks of hungry birds—thousands of them

feasting themselves—all the singing bugs

the whole forest—full of wings & loudness

singing cicadas—almost deafening

and there i was—in the middle of it

the tree—the birds, the cicadas…

so that’s how—yggdrasil is me

I said to myself—slowly waking up

(First here).

Mt. Fuji / Mt. Rainier by Dennis Kelly

Mt. Fuji / Mt. Rainier
*
in the evening—darkness sunsets
untouched by—freeway headlights
a seagull flies—flying upward
aspiration for heights—clouds tailing
across the face—Mt. Fuji / Rainier

*

(Tanka-cleave, first published at snarke.com: tanka-cleaving).

Mt. Rainier by Dennis Kelly

Mt. Rainier

“when I compose poetry

I compose only for myself”

—Nakamura Kasatao

*

I’m obscure—insignificant

my cleaves—immature

my expression—inadequate

the falling rain—how far

away—Rainier is receding

*

(Tanka-cleave, first published at snarke.com: tanka-cleaving).

Gamelan Music by Dennis Kelly

—for Phuoc-Tan & Diana

“I write for myself—

and strangers”

—Gertrude Stein

*

i write for myself—and strangers

but mostly—for myself

i wouldn’t be writing—this way tho

if it weren’t—for strangers

especially a stranger—who said

there’s somebody—i want you to meet

so i write now—for two strangers

and myself—i write for her

even tho—we don’t talk anymore

i write for him—we talk a lot

without her—there wouldn’t be him

i write for him now—not her

funny how strangers—come & go

i write for myself—and them

Gamelan Blue by Dennis Kelly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldPMifPbngc

“Separated by too. This

is neither a sentence nor

a paragraph. A simple

center and a continuous

design.”—Gertrude Stein,

“More Grammar Genia

Berman,” Portraits & Prayers

*

gertrude does—grammar portraits

turning dialog—and conversation

into paragraphs—and sentences

portraits are done—with words

alice toklas—is a season of seems

when she’s blue—may is blue

what is bluer—when she is blue

my baby loves blue—so do you

*

http://www.snarke.com/2009/01/cleaving-gamelan.html

A Thank You Cleave by Dennis Kelly

Dear Phuoc-Tan,

*

Well, well—thank you very much.

For posting “The Pact”—on The Cleave.

“The Pact” pretty much—says everything.

Everything I know—about The Cleave right now.

Which isn’t much—I keep it minimal.

I keep the baggage light—I let the Spice flow.

*

I want to let your—Cleave idea “gel” in my mind.

To give it time—to do what it wants to do.

It always seems—to surprise me.

With something Spontaneous—and NEW.

That’s what Pound said—“Make it NEW, baby.”

*

Making it NEW is easy—if you trust your Intuition.

It’s best in the morning—with a cup of coffee.

With a cat on my lap—and my Fujitsu tablet.

Glowing in the dark—in my bedroom womb.

With the Cleave-stream—flowing thru me.

Thru my sleepy—wake-up cerebellum…

*

I’ve made this Pact with Pound—like Pound & Whitman.

The New Sentence in my head—the New Line on the screen.

Sometimes the stylus—can’t wait to get going.

The graceful horizontal slide—of words left to right.

Cleaving it with hyphens—letting the diastic flow go free.

Then the best part—letting the Cleave speak to me…

*

Letting the 2 verticals—crawl up and down the page.

Like cicadas climbing—up the World Tree

Three Voices talking to me—the Spoken Word inside me.

Saving it on a memory stick—plugging it in later.

Editing the manuscript—on my Roll-top desk laptop.

Each morning—I make this Pact with the Word.

And the Word—says Cleave Me Baby!!!!!

*

The Pact by Dennis Kelly

“I make a pact with

you, Walt Whitman”

—Ezra Pound

i make a pact—with you

ezra pound—my fascist father

bollingen prize—badboy poet

pig-headed—pisa prick

st. elizabeth—prisoner of zenda

poet—of the new woode

you broke it—that whitman Line

now it’s—time for cleaving

once—again

time for—commerce

words—between us

—based on Ezra Pound’s “A Pact,” Personae (1926)

Ricardo Reis by Dennis Kelly

Ricardo Reis
“No one by choice
or inclination would
remain in this port.”
—Jose Saramago,
The Year of the Death
Of Ricardo Reis

here the sea ends—the coast begins
it is raining—over the colorless sea
the waters of the river—polluted with mud
the riverbeds—flooded
a dark vessel—ascends the somber river
to anchor—in lisbon
back & forth—the same ports
london—buenos aires
la plata—montevideo
santos—rio de janeiro
pernambuco—las palmas
one does not speak—or ask
which is—the greater river
which is—the greater town
a curtain of water—descends from sky
we come to know—what we don’t know
which is what—we know already
there is nothing—but names
beyond the reach—of writing

Dennis Kelly cleaving Ron Silliman

Ron Silliman

“I write to know
who I am”
—Ron Silliman

He says—he writes
To know—who he is
I’m just—the opposite
I write—to forget

“I’m straight”—he says
Straightforward—realist
But I’m—more backwards
A kind of—Weimar drag

His message—“Be Here Now.”
Mine—is more subversive
Anywhere—but here, my dear
Give me—Dr. Caligari’s Closet!!!

Last night—he was reading
Thomas Pynchon—Against The Day
I’m still stuck—in Gravity’s Rainbow
Conspiracy—synchronicity!!!

William Carlos Williams—Spring and All
Got him going—Zukofsky and Creeley
Armantrout—and Watten helped him
I’ve read—In the American Tree

It’s Xmas Eve—I’m on the run
Is there—room in the inn?
My wife (virgin)—she’s pregnant
Three wise thugs—are trailing us

(From Dennis Kelly’s cleave site)

Spontaneous thing by Dennis Kelly

This cleave and Three-Way Poetics were first published here at Dennis Kelly’s poetry blog and mentioned here on Ron Silliman’s blog.

*

Larry Eigner

—for Diana Manister

*

“when you search the

spontaneous thing”

—Larry Eigner, “The Fine Life,”

On My Eyes

*

When I search for—the thing

The spontaneous thing—already there

It becomes even more—spontaneous

Do it yourself—try it & see

*

What blooms—in drought

Isn’t you or me—it’s intuition

The other radio—the Red Sox one

The Orphée one—just ask Cocteau

*

Heurtebise—your chauffeur

Eurydice—your wife

Maria Casares—La princesse

The Land of Dis—Spontaneous now

*

Words—your Rolls Royce

Language—your motorcycle escort

Writing—thru the liquid mirror

Runtime—Saturday matinee

*

The more—you read

The more—you write

The more—you cleave

The more—you see

Three-Way Poetics by Dennis Kelly

Three-Way Poetics

“we  got trinaural hearing”

—Larry  Eigner, “Do it yrself,” 

 Look at the  Park
*

Now I’ve got—three “ears”

The front one—the back one

The one—coming down the street

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 15-19/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 15-19

Four Quatorzain cleaves

“I prefer poems in anthologies
to poems in individual books.
A poem in an anthology has
forgotten its author.”
—Tan Lin, “ambient stylistics,”
Telling It Slant

BERNSTEIN

Brute design—beltway bozos
dEmocracy—lewd propositions
guRly boyz—knowing the truth
thiNk about—halliburton haves and those
scabS of the—ratty mourning have-nots
gangsTer lobbyists—hoodlum politicians
silhouEtting—formaldehyde artifices
uncertaInties—nightly snarky fox-tv
discrepaNcies—elephantine lies

Seed text = BERNSTEIN
Source text = Charles Bernstein’s
“Ballad of the Girly Man,” Girly Man (2000)

(Using the diastic method, the writer reads through the source text and successively finds words or other linguistic units that have the letters of the seed text in positions that correspond to those they occupy in the seed text.)

http://quarterlyconversation.com/thing-of-beauty-by-jackson-mac-low

(Using the cleave method, the writer reads through the diastic text—hyphenating the horizontal text into2 vertical texts. The resulting text is a diastic / cleave intertext—with 3 poems in positions that correspond to each in a unique polymorphosely vocal / textual way.

http://cleavepoetry.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/dennis-kellys-further-thoughts-on-cleave-poetics/

GREENE

Gravedigger—slowly finishing up
GReene saying—“One never knows,
WhEn the blow—may fall”
DetEctive—sesame phrase:
“FrieNd—of Harry Lime”—
WinklEr—the Viennese Jansenist

Seed text = GREENE
Source text =The Third Man (1950)

“Jansenist,” Dr. Winkler commented and closed his mouth sharply as though he had been guilty of giving away too much information. “Never heard the word. Why are the arms above the head?” Dr. Winkler said reluctantly, “Because He died, in their view, only for the elect.”
—Graham Greene, The Third Man

BAUDELAIRE

Balking at sleep—i was a well
pAscal had his abysses—i was a mine
haUnted by vertigo—nightmares
hanDs reaching down into—darknesss
pacEs full of—languorous indifferences
disobLiging work—being a lyric poet in hell
consolAtions being few—in between while
contritIions ending up—lame and clandestine
surrendeRing sullen—boredom
silhouettEs—baudelaire on the wall…

Seed text = BAUDELAIRE
Source text = Les Fleurs de malNotes:

“Les Fleurs de mal was the last lyric work that had a broad European reception; no other writings penetrated beyond a more or less linguistic area. Added to this is the fact that Baudelaire expended his productive capacity almost entirely on this one volume.” —Walter Benjamin, The Writer of Modern Life: Essays on Charles Baudelaire (2006)

PIERS GAVESTON

Ganymede—prince, my future king
pAge, sovereign’s son—fairest lover boy
joVe’s cutest chicken—lascivious commaund
sweEt beauty’s rarest purple—flower in bloom
wordS can’t describe how wanton—the ivy-twisting
idolaTrous my love-sick lips—kissing qualm
gavestOn your servant—ogling eyes astonished
ascendaNt—by rare phoenix youth…

Seed text = Gaveston
Source text =”Piers Gaveston,”
Michael Drayton (1593)

“This Edward in the April of his age,
Whil’st yet the Crown sat on his father’s head
My Jove with me, his Ganymede, his page,
Frolic as May, a lusty life we led…..
He might commaund, he was my
Sovereign’s son,
And what I said, by him was ever done.
My words as laws authentic he allowed,
Mine yea, by him was never crossed with no,
All my conceit as current he avowed,
And as my shadow still he served so”

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 13&14/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 13&14 of 19

13

“metaphor chains”
—Clark Coolidge,
“Arrangement,” Talking
Poetics from Naropa

        not everyone here—hears words turning
      feels apportionment—mosaic night-soil moving
      collecting in sleep—penetrating dreams
    invisible stalagmites—slow motion overhead
      older than pyramids—elvis’ blue suede shoes
        cassiopeia’s taxi—outside the 7-eleven
the lady in the red dress—the queen of spades
    words want to make us—faking us away
        twisting crimping—that’s their style
     give them some slack—chill your cool

14.

“there are no rules,
let’s see what can
be written”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

              see the ink—egyptian papyrus jive
            see the ships—on the walls of the temples
             see the nile—inching back and forth centuries
            see the birds—in the reeds along the banks
      see the steep steps—hear the coffin creak & groan
    see the antique palms—leaning into the sunset
   see the piles of stone—beneath the ancient stars
        see the gold mask—see thru tut’s time-machine
  see the coiled caduceus—uncoil when it’s time
see the face that’s yours—when the pyramids fly

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 11&12/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 11&12 of 19

11.

“Language isn’t just
objects, it moves…”
—Clark Coolidge,
“Arrangement,” Talking
Poetics from Naropa

   if after all—they do know
    if i say so—and they agree
     a marriage—a convenience
     between us—our arrangements
parallel poetry—out of thin air
   making it up—right then & there
        with me—who am i to quibble?

12.

“you go where it goes,
I think that connects with
arrangement in a way”’
—Clark Coolidge,
“Arrangement,” Talking
Poetics from Naropa

            carbide—lamps
       terrifyingly—brighter
 acetylene torching—working better
brighter down there—than flashlights
         spelunking—inside trilobite time
  stalactite organs—playing in the dark
       intrauterine—underground journeys
        passageways—connected arrangements
  crawling climbing—using ropes down deep
      reading rocks—rocks reading you
    cleaving deeper—thru strata and faults

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 9&10/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 9&10 of 19

9.

“He’s one of the
interesting bad writers”
—Clark Coolidge,
“Arrangement,” Talking
Poetics from Naropa

            it lurks—my window's open
    i don’t even see—what’s coming thru
     but it knows me—noxious yog-sothoth
spawn of primal time—tentacles amorphous
     monster cleaves—threshold lurkers
  frothing congeries—protoplasmic flow
    opening the gate—eldritch netherworld
       hip lovecraft—call of cthalhu

10.

“to find a form that
accommodates the
mess, that is the task
of the writers today”
—Samuel Beckett

     next to—next to
does it join—does it join
does it mean—does it mean
does it know—does it know
if after all—it does know
and I say so—does it?

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 7&8/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 7&8 of 19

7.

“Just a sequence
of rooms…”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

   i hear it—when it’s coming
i don’t know—it’s different each time
 ignorant me—an undertow beneath
    my style—just flowing with it
     failing—just what is needed
     finally—entering the moment
   when i am—into who i am

8.

“or should I
say nonconnection”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

 entering it—the keyhole
  the cleave—down the middle
     slicing—cerebral hemispheres
    the tale—of two cities
  boulevards—left and right
  drawbridge—across the channel
  down below—thru the metal grating
  tall ships—passing in the night
    my brain—springs a leak
falling down—into sailboats

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 5&6/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 5&6 of 19

5.

“This is very
unprovoked thought”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

          it opened—i caught it
 versions left over—over the edge
       they shifted—down the spinal cord
    all the hyphens—slouching like cats
           sniffing—soft paws on the carpet
   here in the city—craning their necks
getting a good look—thru the gate
       at the other—shape-shifter

6.

“the great
misunderstandings”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

   it comes here—i don’t know how
      i say this—i’ve lost so much
planting hyphens—slanting it down
    how it grows—nobody knows
       beneath a—night sun moon
       blackness—dark at high noon
     it’s coming—undoing me

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 3&4/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 3&4 of 19

3.
“the energy of word art”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

   cleaving—against it
seeing what—emerges
    writing—three-ways

   monsters—of the id
     ghosts—of the ego
   superego—doppelgangers

   the body—as movie
   dreaming—voyage imaginaire
  provoking—poetry

i’m starved—i’m hungry
    the way—poets eat poets
   language—cleave du jour

4.
“wait and see
what emerges…”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

       what’s happening—with cleaves?
         the difficulty—talking about them?
         designing them—as 3 texts in one
        suggesting that—their meaning
          somehow comes—from a “complex”?

          when actually—the artifice of cleaves
performs simultaneously—paraphrasing
     the old surrealism—thru LangPo research
     into a new reading—worthy to be
        called American—parasurrealism…

cleAving it by Dennis Kelly for k. m. ryan

cleAving it —  for k. m. ryan

          jeez—intricate
    imagine—being able
 forgetting—to do
    thinking—3-ways
     doing it—doing it now
  writing it—cleaving it
intuiting it—the hyphens
          now—your guides

tHe mAgic typEwritEr (cleave poetics 2/19) by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 2 of 19

2.

“I remember waking up one
morning with the look of that
page in my mind.”
—Clark Coolidge,
Postmodern Poetry:
The Talisman Interviews

i wake up—in the morning
with the page—in my mind
the layout of—the cleave
long-lines—becoming one

the cleave voice—sketching
provoking me—to visualize
the phantom page—again
the usual way—linking lines

the overall—arrangements
pages waiting—patiently
to be written—to be typed
creating them—back again

cleaving—the darkness
improvisational—incognito
fingers typing—magic keyboard
words of light—onto a screen

tHe mAgic typEwritEr by Dennis Kelly

CLEAVE POETICS 1 of 19

tHe mAgic typEwritEr
“It is a parasurrealism
that examines its own
lyrical structure…
a lively, dramatic
edginess, a visceral
sense of “being there.”

—Charles Borkhuis,
“Writing from Inside Language:
Late Surrealism and Textual Poetry
in France and the United States,”
Telling It Aslant:Avant-Garde
Poetics of the 1990s 

1.

“How much of poetry is
unprovoked thought?”
—Clark Coolidge,
The Crystal Text

    what provokes—cleavage?
      that which is—blank?
     a new kind of—line?
         three lines—in one?

           how to be—simultaneous?
          three-way—at the same time?
       rearranging—past present future?
           writing it—into a new tense?

              picasso—does it
           juan gris—does it
        kandinsky—does it
             braque—does it

           but what—do they do?
        do they do—cubism?
or does cubism—do them?
        provoking—such cleavage?

(Previously here).

Argentina by Dennis Kelly

                Argentina

“Los artificios y candor del hombre”
—Jorge Luis Borges,
“El golem”

  already you can see—the tragic setting
      each thing here—in its appointed place
       the broadsword—the ash destined for dido
             the coin—ready for belisarius
      why do you weep—searching in lazy
bronze old hexameters—gone old empires?
  when 7 feet of dirt—waits for you
 a slow rush of blood—Argentina
      watches you now—the mirror of death
      dreaming you up—spitting in your face
 all your crummy dayz—so bourgeois
 goodbye middle class—it was the house
        by the street—you grew up in
 but now peron, evita—Argentina
        wants it back—again

(previously here)

translations by Dennis Kelly

translations

“The recognition that the 
very presence of the line
is predominant current
signifier of the Poetic will
cause some poets to discard
at least for a time, its use”

—Ron Silliman,

“Of Theory, To Practice

 cleaving masters—like ezra pound

    more than just—translating them

     word for word—line for line

stanza for stanza—poem for poem

       it’s more like—sargasso seas

       sinking down—bermuda triangles

       disappearing—deep time & space

           jettisoning—jetsam & flotsam

          all the way—downward

The Stylist: Cleave translations by Dennis Kelly

The Stylist
—Cleave-translations from
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)
_______________________________

1 perfection
2 stylist
3 risqué
4 metro
5 words
6 vice
7 lily
8 valentino
9 eyes

________________________________

perfection
(previously published: here)

—based on “Salvationists”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

the stylist

           the stylist—unpaid, uncelebrated
    beneath saggy roof—seeking shelter
        words on paper—receive him
     placid uneducated—exercising his talents
without sophistication—writing
    while his mistress—behind creaky door
            makes love—cooks feasts for him

—based on “Beneath the Sagging Roof”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

risqué

    they say—risqué
 my cleaving—canzonetti
   composing—four A.M.
listening to—her music
seeing diana—nude in her bathtub
     bathing—blushing
  delectable—in the delicate
    sunlight—skylights
        thru—castalian spray
 the granite—cliffs of helicon
   gathering—about me my
        dice—weak knees

—based on “Ancorda”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

metro

the apparition—of these faces
  in the crowd—pennies
          from—heaven

—based on “In a Station in the Metro”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

words

           words—words
  manila folders—giving the illusion
order everywhere—actually chaos rules
          my den—library knows
       the truth—jungle words
            gone—amok

vice

       sarah palen—amorous
thus have the gods—elaphantine
 republican voters—republican votes
       blessed you—allowing you
           my dear—to rule in vice

—based on “Phyllidula”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

lily bart

       flawless—aphrodite
     thoroughly—beautiful
tableaux vivant—goddess
    your posing—concerns me

—based on “Ladies”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

valentino

   9 adulteries—12 liaisons
64 fornications—a rape
        nightly—how you brag
      valentino—my friend
      seemingly—so loud
     effortless—and sexy
        while I—on the contrary
     never talk—I’m shy about
           love—romance
 being recently—father of twins
   accomplished—at some cost
     four times—cuckolded

—based on “The Temperaments”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

eyes
(previously published: here)

—based on “The Seeing Eye”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

Two cleaves by Dennis Kelly

      Three way(s)

cleaves are—three way(s)
 new LangPo—doorways
   the Line—opening up

          
                eyes

  small pigs—looking at
      big pigs—observing
    unwieldy—dimensions
       curious—imperfection of odors
     a formal—male group
   gathering—together
 young pigs—looking at old pigs
considering—the elderly mind
   observing—inexplicable correlatives

—based on “The Seeing Eye”
Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

                       

Dennis Kelly’s further thoughts on Cleave poetics

CLEAVE POETICS For Phuoc-Tan, Diana, Laurie and Jennifer

*

How to write a Cleave poem?

Write the horizontal poem first.

Cleave the poem into 2 vertical poems.

Cleave with hyphens—using your intuition.

The vertical poems are the zen payoff.

They’ll read choppy somewhat but intelligent.

The gestalt one feels is unique because it’s yours.

It’s your horizontal poem to begin with.

But the 2 vertical poems are spontaneous.

Like Mac Low’s diastic impromptu method.

Except the cleave method is quicker.

It’s more spontaneous and otherworldly.

Because it’s you confronting your double.

Your poetic doppelganger in the NOW.

The left hand & right hand poems are one.

They’re not discrete poems.

They’re the surprise Bingo that happens.

The left and right poems aren’t stitched together.

Hunting and picking for combos that fit…

Cleaving one poem into two—that’s the trick.

Not stitching two poems into one.

What I want is surprise, joy and wonder.

My way gives the poet a double-whammy.

Cleave collaboration for me is Translation.

Translating Pound’s Personae, for example.

Pound put his Anthology poems together for a reason.

They were his Imagist Manifesto.

He jump-started the Modernist Movement.

Eliot and Joyce did too. The three of them.

With Personae, The Waste Land and Ulysses.

But Pound did it somewhat differently.

Thru small discrete poems—rather than Long Poems.

The Waste Land = Long Elegy

Ulysses = Long Love Lyric Irish Fairy Tale

Pound wanted to embrace & extend the Past.

Eliot and Joyce as well… each did it differently.

Personae (1926) was Pound’s American Tree (Silliman).

LangPo Poetry grew once Silliman’s Anthology (1986) came out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Silliman

Personae is a thin little volume—an easy read.

The American Tree is thick—many machines on Ix.

Better than those on Richese?

How to start a Cleave Movement?

Call it CloPo or maybe CleavePo?

How about an Anthology?

An Anthology is like a Baseball Park.

Build it—and they will come.

*

**

***

**

*

perfection

now—my little cleaves

let us—speak perfection

show—simplicity

let us—elegantly

tell—our little story

*

—based on “Salvationists”

Ezra Pound’s Personae (1926)

*

**

***

**

*

(“Come, my songs,

let us speak of perfection—

We shall get ourselves

rather disliked.”)

*

Now let us show—let us tell.

Let our little cleaves speak perfection.

Simplicity—elegantly telling a story.

Each story—extemporaneous.

Each story—impromptu.

Each story—imbued with ad lib.

Each story—ours to show & tell.

*

dennis kelly 9/23/2008

Submissions: Dennis Kelly

Cleave ‘Translations’ from Pound’s Personae (1925)

______cleavages

__is it poetry—or just a game

____creating—beautiful cleavages

these elegant—crossword puzzles

___three-way—entertaining

___labyrinths—mazes?

_______de jour

__scattered—fragments

not knowing—day to day

_tomorrow’s—menu

______split—pea soup

____cleave—de jour

____________mac low

_________—for laurie elaine

_________i studied—aleatoric poetry

___botticellian splits—mac low’s diastic

______doubling back—seed to source

carefully capitalizing—the key letters

___to form the name—diagonally down

_____a pretty effect—but I got bored

____not enough tho—give me estrangement

___cleaving is more—narratological

_not just two texts—seed & source

but three new texts—folding into one

_________origami—surprise kit

____official poetry

__light-hearted—i woke up

___in the wold—nonchalantly

_the magnolias—blooming

____stifled me—faint of breath

smothered me—the stench

______rotting—official poetry

___________anthology

_____________go—cleave-born book

________tell them—diamonds flake

______down there—where sapphires

____________burn—liquid emeralds fume

rubies red as blood—flow like lava

___________deep—down inside me

Submission: Dennis Kelly

A cleave ‘Translation’ from Pound’s Personae (1925)

___black panther

_the black—panther

_____sleeps—beneath

_the black—jungle sky

blackness—everywhere

except for—his dark green

________eyes—eyes

____closing—opening

Cleave poem submission: tea and sympathy by Dennis Kelly

___________tea and-sympathy

“the pictorial technique

of inserting a painting

within a painting

corresponds, in the world

of literature, to the

interpolation of a fiction

within another fiction”

—Jorge Luis Borges,

“When Fiction Lives in Fiction,”

Selected Nonfictions

________two poems-then three

_____living together-a family of one

_____endless stories-a house of mirrors

a whitman’s sampler-of little goodies

____little zen-jumps-bonjour gide genet borges

______zen + langpo=langcleave

mise en abîme detours-tres scheherazadesque

___z=e=n cleavages-to entertain guests

________sipping tea-with sympathy

Cleave poem submissions: Dennis Kelly’s thoughts on Cleave poetics

Here are some of Dennis Kelly’s thoughts on Cleave poetry.

Any more thoughts?

_____cleave/manifesto

______—for Phuoc-Tan Diep

__________________thinking-differently

____________trying it once-trying it again

blasting the poetic public-with our new cleavages

_______cleaving that place-in their brains

they didn’t know existed!-where angels fear to tread!

____uncleaving ourselves-poetically speaking

_starting something new-not knowing where it’s going

_____trying all the doors-to find openings
________that cleave form-pushing our brains

___________paratactically-aesthetically

_____________cleave me!!!-cleave me!!!

_____LangClo Cleavage

___—for Phuoc-Tan Diep

_______Please-don’t listen to me

I’m just trying-to charm you

____the world-out of you

____ out on you-into me

_______synergy-fusion

_co-operation-dialectics

____marriage-interdependence

___teamwork-The Trinity

____________diamond cleavage

____cleaving is like = making love
lying on your back = with her on top
_doing all the work = cleaving you
______perfectly still = like a diamond
____the cleave/gem = a diamond haiku

____________________technique

_each cleave is different—just like making love.
____each time is unique—and erotically intense.
_______each cleave-gem—cleaves the brain perfectly.
each time is right brain—left brain cleave.
_right down the middle—splits you in half.
__each diamond cleave—is yours to keep.
____it doesn’t last long—but it’s deep.

Cleave poems: © 2008 Dennis Kelly

Cleave poem submission by Diana Manister and a joint performance Cleave with Dennis Kelly

__________From Mary Shelley’s Preface to the First Edition

see:

Dancing with Mary Shelley and Henry James A Cleave Suite by Diana Manister

Cleave poem: © 2008 Diana Manister

__________Elsa Lanchester-Bride of Frankenstein
__________Diana Manister-Dennis Kelly

____Elsa Lanchester plays – Mary Shelley and
____Bride of Frankenstein – all women knowing without a doubt
what research now shows – that Baron Frankenstein guys
______most mad scientists – played by Colin Clive types
________are deeply in love – are deeply in love with themselves
____“It’s alive!! It’s alive!!” - “It’s alive!! It’s alive!!”
______________“It’s alive!!” - “It’s alive!!”
_______________“It’s Me!!!!” – “It’s Me!!!!”
_____________“Eternally!!!” – “Eternally!!!”
______________“Forever!!!” – “Forever!!!”
___________________“Me!!!” – “Me!!!”

Cleave poem: © 2008 Diana Manister & Dennis Kelly

Cleave poem submissions by Dennis Kelly

______________young-old

_______________Once-a long time ago
____there was a time-when I was young
back when I was old-back when time stopped
_when time went by-slowly like black molasses
__slower and slower-creeping like a snail
_____a long track of-shiny slimy words
____midnight words-film noir words
_____mystery words-detective words
____true confession-sci-fi words
________pulp fiction-sports words
________latin words-old high german
_______action words-surrealist words
___words of wonder-words of magic
_____wordhordes of-old weirding ways
____towers of babel-skyscraper words
______getting slower-and slower
______slowing down-slowing down
________then slower-and slower
_________then finally-finally home
_________back home-back home
______________young-old

___________A Swarm of Gnats
____________(Mückenschwarm)
__________—for Herman Hesse

_____The gnat swarm-swarming on the lawn
gets bigger each day-müchkenschwarming away
___rising and falling-scattering recentering
_outside my window-like a Mardi Gras crowd
____raving delirious-creating their own parade
___making even me-their View Carré voyeur
______queen for day-shivering with joy
______extravagantly-voyant me

Cleave poems: © 2008 Dennis Kelly

Cleave poem submission: darkness/darkness by Dennis Kelly

Welcome to our first post-call poet with this Cleave:

_______________darkness – darkness

______Once upon a time – a long time ago
________way back when – the storytellers said
___darkness once ruled – the land speaking
_____through Storytime - through tongues
_________through sleek – wordhunters with their
___stealthy memorized - wordhordes of
Anglo-Saxon darkness - darkness…

Cleave poem: © 2008 Dennis Kelly
Dennis Kelly has been working with Jackson Mac Low recently and his so-called “diastic” poems (seed text + source text) described in his “Thing of Beauty” selected work (Berkeley, 2008), e.g. “Quatorzains from & for Emily Dicinson,” p. 175.
For example, here’s I did for Mac Low–
“Quatorzains from & for Jackson Mac Low”

Dennis Kelly has 2 books out from SF. 4 anthologies including a Penguin…