Augusto de Campos
Pentahexagram for John Cage, 1977
So, this dude, Augusto de Campos did a poem called "pentahexagram for John Cage" that is mostly a picture for my boy, known to me as JC. It is above. I'll give you a quick rundown of the background info you need to know, Brazilian poet dude, was probably some Brazilian Gypsy hippy, and it is apparently hip to draw a picture and call it a poem in the post modernist era. The blog seems stalled (or in awe of) the earlier post on moon shoes, which I have not been able to stop thinking about even thought here is no way I could pull them off (maybe some AF1-Jordan crossovers may work), and when that shit happens, I will try to go deep and provocative. Or maybe deep and erotic? or realistically, not so deep, not so provocative, nor so erotic.
Opinion Time: Is this a poem? Not arguing the fact that if the artist call it a poem, then yeah it is technically a poem (cause I write "songs" all the time, although many people, including ones that love me don't think it is a "song"). But, is it really a poem? f I write a song, can I call it a painting even though I use no paint? I can't get a buzz if there is tea in my pipe.
now the following shit is stuff I stole about this subject off of google books-
this thread is a poem.
ReplyDeleteRight 'bout now inside tha ride sounds of da Augusto de Campos.
ReplyDeleteI regress and retract. I was boiling my definition of poetry's basis down to words, like my boiled down definition of music is sound organized in time. The problem here was that I am not that smart, my boy Augusto does use words, they are just written in musical notation. The word is CAGE and is spelled out by the notes on the staff (yes it is a 6 line staff, but take the top line off, you get Bass clef, bottom line off, Treble clef). So, my original argument is flawed for this piece. Yes, it uses words, so yes it is poetry, even my redneck definition of the word. Now, if it was completely a picture
ReplyDeleteand didn't have words, then I would argue that it is not a poem.
I think Orange is a poem, cause it is based in words. Words must be some form of a written language that is spoken. That will encompass picture based written languages. This was a conversation about asthetics and philosophical mumbo jumbo that I found interesting, which is rare. Thank you for engaging.