Basic principles of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry

by Al Filreis
High culture/low culture distinction is false

Mixed genres

Book, arts and typographical innovations

Anything can be subject matter

The self is a construct

Self is not natural or biological

Cultures are constructions

Actions of cultures are not separate they do things to one another

Subject-object relations are really subject-subject relations

There is no natural speech

Only artificiality

Speech is naturalized as natural

Words are words

Symbols not things not the things being described

Machines of construction
Medium becomes the message

Series is not essence

No essential things in a series or list

Things in relation become the message

Experience is not uncontradictory

A rubric

Not narrative but anti-narrative

Can be reordered and redefined

Cause and Effect is a political construction

Created not natural

Logic, linguistics, history and autobiography invent cause and effect they do not find it

Oppressive ordering

There is no cause and effect - only chance, random construction of self

Take no syntax for granted

Innovation of word, symbol and sentence

Break grammar laws

Subject shift is good shift of pronoun takes focus from narrator

Hypertext is good

Electronic writing spaces cause nomadicism

Dislocation of self from stuck position in time and space brings change/enlightenment

Many language poets are net savvy

Down with intellectual property

No one owns the canon or any other text

Borrow, steal, quote, twist, distort

Parody, quotation, imitation and theft

Collaboration no individual credit

Surfaces are deep

Depth is no deeper than surfaces

Confession has no point

There is no core of true self only construction language and things about one
Blurring of beginnings and endings

Language poets often leave off where traditional poets start

Warming up to the subject is the subject matter

No visible construction or form based upon subject matter

Avoidance of subject matter - end when get to the subject matter

Self-Help
BY CHARLES BERNSTEIN (2007)
Home team suffers string of losses.Time to change loyalties.
Quadruple bypass.Hold the bacon on that next cheeseburger.
Poems tanking.After stormiest days, sun comes out from behind clouds, or used to.
Marriage on rocks.Nothing like Coke.
Election going the wrong direction.Kick off slippers, take deep breathe, be here now.
Boss says your performance needs boost.A long hot bath smoothes wrinkles.
War toll tops 100,000.Get your mind off it, switch to reality TV.
Lake Tang Woo Chin Chicken with Lobster and Sweet Clam Sauce still not served and everyone else got their orders twenty minutes
back.Savor the water, feast on the company.
Subway floods and late for audition.Start being the author of your own performance. Take a walk.
Slip on ice, break arm.In moments like this, the preciousness of life reveals itself.
Wages down in non-union shop.Youre a sales associate, not a worker; so proud to be part of the company.
Miss the train?Great chance to explore the station!
Suicide bombers wrecks neighborhood.Time to pitch in!
Nothing doing.Take a break!
Partner in life finds another partner.Now you can begin the journey of life anew.
Bald?Finally, you can touch the sky with the top of your head.
Short-term recall shot.Old memories are sweetest.
Hard drive crashes and novel not backed up.Nothing like a fresh start.
Severe stomach cramps all morning.Boy are these back issues of Field and Stream engrossing.
Hurricane crushes house.You never seemed so resilient.
Brother-in-law completes second year in coma.He seems so muchmore relaxed than he used to.
$75 ticket for Sunday meter violation on an empty street in residential neighborhood.The city needs the money to make us safe
and educate our kids.
Missed last episode of favorite murder mystery because you misprogrammed VCR.Write your own ending!
Blue cashmere pullover has three big moth holes.What a great looking shirt!
Son joins skinhead brigade of Jews for Jesus.At least hes following his bliss.
Your new play receives scathing reviews and closes after a single night.What a glorious performance!

Pungent stench of homeless man on subway, asking for food.Such kindness in his eyes, as I turn toward home.
Retirement savings lost on Enron and WorldCom.They almost rhyme.
Oil spill kills seals.The workings of the Lord are inscrutable.
Global warming swamps land masses.Learn to accept change.
Bike going fast in wrong direction knocks you over.A few weeks off your feet, just what the doctor ordered.
AIDS ravaging Africa.Wasnt Jeffrey Wright fabulous in Angels in America?
Muffler shot.Theres this great pizza place next to the shop.
Income gap becomes crater.Good motivation to get rich.
Abu Ghraib prisoners tortured.Lets face it, shit happens.
Oscar wins Emmy.Award shows are da bomb.
FBI checking your library check-outs.I also recommend books on Amazon.
Gay marriages annulled.Who needs the state to sanctify our love?
Presidents lies kill GIs.Hes so decisive about his core values.
Self-Help.Other drowns.

Two Stones with One Bird

BY CHARLES BERNSTEIN (2008)
Redemption
comes
&
redemption
goes
but
transience
is
here
forever.

Questionnaire
BY CHARLES BERNSTEIN (2007)
Directions: For each pair of sentences, circle the letter, a or b, that best
expresses your viewpoint. Make a selection from each pair. Do not omit
any items.
1.a) The body and the material things of the world are the key to any
knowledge we can possess.
b) Knowledge is only possible by means of the mind or psyche.
2.a) My life is largely controlled by luck and chance.
b) I can determine the basic course of my life.
3.a) Nature is indifferent to human needs.
b) Nature has some purpose, even if obscure.
4.a) I can understand the world to a sufficient extent.
b) The world is basically baffling.
5.a) Love is the greatest happiness.
b) Love is illusionary and its pleasures transient.
6.a) Political and social action can improve the state of the world.
b) Political and social action are fundamentally futile.
7.a) I cannot fully express my most private feelings.
b) I have no feelings I cannot fully express.
8.a) Virtue is its own reward.
b) Virtue is not a matter of rewards.
9.a) It is possible to tell if someone is trustworthy.
b) People turn on you in unpredictable ways.
10.a) Ideally, it would be most desirable to live in a rural area.
b) Ideally, it would be most desirable to live in an urban area.
11.a) Economic and social inequality is the greatest social evil.
b) Totalitarianism is the greatest social evil.
12.a) Overall, technology has been beneficial to human beings.
b) Overall, technology has been harmful to human beings.
13.a) Work is the potential source of the greatest human fulfillment.
b) Liberation from work should be the goal of any movement for
social improvement.
14.a) Art is at heart political in that it can change our perception of
reality.
b) Art is at heart not political because it can change only
consciousness and not events.