what is conceptual poetry? some notes from the conference 2008
INTRO: I spent the last few days at the Conceptual Poetry & Its Others conference in Tucson. (I was definitely one of the others.)
To those uninitiated, a conceptual poem has a “concept” or idea behind it which often and typically supercedes other “aesthetic” notions imposed upon a work by writers. These ideas often take the form of a contraint, for example to type every word and punctuation and mark on the page of the September 1, 2000 edition of the New York Times ala Kenneth Goldsmith’s 900 page work entitled Day (of which he appears oddly proud that no one bothers to read). Works are collaborative in nature, whether the collaborators intend to be part of the project or not, as conceptional poets appropriate many if not most of their texts from other sources.
Or as Laynie Browne put it in her collaborative piece with responses from over 50 poets and by using a computer analysis to compose the following answer to the question “What is conceptual poetry?”
A can of call and response. An unfortunate noun modified by an adjective. What poets are NOT conceptual. It makes me ambient. Quagmire out side of texts. For example, Kathleen Fraser’s essay, on “Partial Local Coherence.” My life is a highly conceptual work. Predicated on the desanctification of the aesthetic object. Hejinian’s poems, often organized around grammatical structures. Idea has preference. Bernadette Mayer–how can Utopia not be conceptual? It began with Acconci and Mayer’s 0-9. Foulipo (Spahr and Young’s piece) was conceptual. Given Dworkin’s definition, I’ll have to change my bio note. Language beyond born.
So I have decided to post my notes from the conference word by illegible word here as a conceptual poem using the words and format of my notes in an attempt to transcribe what is there verbatum.
That post coming right up…
one day i had a concept in my poem
it stopped paying rent
which i’d stopped paying long before
so we both got kicked out
too bad
it was a nice
victorian home
with hard wood floors
My kind of conceptual poetry is integrational,wisdom-oriented and improvisational beyond concepts of settlements in ever-changing situational simulacrum.
thank you thank you thank you
thank you
thank you thank you thank you
thank you thank you
t—h—a—n—k—y—o–u
t-h-a-n-k-y-o-u n-y-e-i-n-w-a-y-!-!
(unfortunately the comment box formatting took out all your various spacing/s…but i saw them!! very cool)
i like your definition too. you shoulda been there!
the process of conceptualization:
1]experiencing-facts
2]identifying-classifying
3]responding-initiating
4]formation of concepts
5]assimilation of concepts to get the space for uncreative consistency through your life,leading to the path to wisdom mobil
6]mature but real impossible simplicity of conceptual poetic condition
7]revisiting the poetry you have already known through your mindscape
Thgia is my kind of conceptual poetry,genreless art formation process
Dimensions of conceptual poetry:
1]structural[pretext,context,text and post-text human condition]
2]functional [meaning,understanding,communication of message or information]
3]spiritual[ideas,fancy,imagination,emotion machine]
4]wisdom [integrated insight,intuitive awareness,second-phase of consciousness-raising process]
5]cartesian theatre
6]concreteness of being
7]emerged becomingingness
Dimensions of conceptual poetry:
1]structural[pretext,context,text and post-text human condition]
2]functional [meaning,understanding,communication of message or information]
3]spiritual[ideas,fancy,imagination,emotion machine]
4]wisdom [integrated insight,intuitive awareness,second-phase of consciousness-raising process]
5]cartesian theatre
6]concreteness of being
7]emerged becomingness
hey thanks so much for coming back and participating here with your ideas about the process and the dimensions of conceptual poetry!!
very cool–more to think about!
24 machineries of conceptual poetics from Buddist’s philosophy,which moves around the human world and a human life( in Pali,it is called “24 pittsee”:24 supporting machineries in a man’s body-mind functional world.
Since I am only just learning about “conceptual” poetry, I have no right to make any “final” judgement of it. My preliminary response, however, from what I’ve read is: there is a flash flood of theorizing about what it is, and a dry creek bed of actual evidence it exists at all. If, as I fear, it bears any resemblance to “language” poetry, I fear poetry–and perhaps I am a heretic for saying so–will suffer another period of dry intellectualism, only this time it will be coupled with massive amounts of quotidian technological plagiarism attempting to palm itself off as poetic creativity. I hope my fears are unjustified, and this new phase will be less stultifying and hermetically-sealed than what I believe that previous period was. If you wish, call me a philistine, a yahoo, a barbarian, old-fashioned, stupid, ignorant, a moron. These may be true. In addition, I may be also showing my age…
(Conceptual/post-conceptual) manifesto Of Contemporary Poetry(2012)
Contemporary poetry is a junction zone of distilled sky and earth of
(1) .psychology
(2) .philosophy
(3) .ethics
(4) .new aesthetics
(5) .contemporary socio-cultural-economic-moral-political-technolog ical issues reflecting power and knowledge
(6) .initiated knowledeg and creative wisdom of contemporaneity6.moment-to-moment decision making process
(7) .Alchemy between existing contemporary literary theory and working definitions of a practising and operational poet after modernist’s literature and poetry
(8) .the end of literary genre concept
(9) .the concept of the continuum-chance, change, revisiting and reconceptualization
and
(10) .Contemplating on quotidian mental and physical experiences.
(11)Understanding,realizing,appreciating and making conceptual and post-conceptual poetry.
Conceptual poetry is brain software written in the domain specific language of the so called “artist”