Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Six Poems By Word Wizard John M. Bennett

John Bennett is a wizard of language. A bender and warper of form and content. I want to say something incredibly intelligent about what he does, how it expands the boundaries of language, but I am capable of little more than observing in awe. You decide for yourself what it means. These are six by visual artist, poet, publisher of Lost and Found Times, and professor John M. Bennett



univespejoerso

Boom the Core be
nt dog ‘n mine sky s
tent f lavor wh
eeling to ward the
mar gins  .where yr
ass foc us s hines w
here yr Woof Door
slams ‘n pops s
lams ‘n p ops a
heel yr “rapbid ex
it”  .)))al meollo s
ticky ‘n s tinky

...en el corazón...un tenedor...
- José-María de Heredia


fomirrorot

what yr crack re
galed what yr spent
my yr cl ownish g
ripping of the ban
nister FLOPPING
DOWN the corner
storm drain where the
mask was lost  .)))tidy
dust triples in your
s   h   o   e

...el calzado es lo que...
- Pablo Neruda




The Cleaner Mirror

dry the mute soap dri
zzle neck sentence
fingered next the lake
where yr shirt lamp s
tain spells a the  .the na
me’s storm the cle
aner drawl half ti
ghtens up my ,“fatal”
“c lock” ’s gar gling in
your laundry )))))where
the washcloth’s dr
owned          ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

...spat the lint back up...
-John M. Bennett



phmirororne

nostril of the lake gas ,blinker in
my thripped cloud’s remembered
nest fog - last glitter the -
)flaring holes their eyes shut( -
towels sticky with spiders ,st
reams down the wall your sw
allowed suit breathed in ex
haled the web your knot
luggage yr  )“clotted soup d
ripping from your lap”(  CHE
ESE AND GREASE

your leaking boat fills with rain

...nunca, la lluvia...
- Agustín Yáñez




Mirror of the Egg

the liver’s moth ,bird
comb paper shrunken
in yr leg the hoof
magnifier flows across
my throat credit open
sandhill ,dung ,sentience
or mucus early in the
suture where yr genes
stride a ladder ,switch
blades ,dental flea st
randed on the ice and
manhole covered with
,your vision lake ,it’s a s
lugfest giggling in the
pages where yr “pig
sea” hugs the bomb
you clcluttered in yr
bbaggage - O my
jagged freedom horse
my towel awash in
“pig .38” ,donut rules
mutter in the salt
black an crusted on the shore

...in the great lazy ocean...
- Jim Leftwich,
Six Months Aint No Sentence,
Book 39, 2013




Espejo de la Caja

es dentition es runítico es
embolismo es inane o es
lubrecto es no es ni thou
ghtless es un gringo es to
billo es el sol que se acuerda
de la bruma es pulmón es
went away es míster wh
ispering in the closet es un
zapato en llamas una mon
eda es una monada es a
cork soaked in urine es
the glass the enema the
dress light with bullet
holes y en la pared es un
cancro es el polvo es
un trueno lejanísimo
donde me veo el sonido
donde me veo el efectivo
donde me veo la llanta
desinflada del año
del año de la es o
es enecencia pilfered
and plunged in a mil
dewed cardboard box

...es peso es pero es tim...
- Francisco de Quevedo



John M. Bennett has published over 300 books and chapbooks of poetry and other materials. Among the most recent are rOlling COMBers (Potes & Poets Press), MAILER LEAVES HAM (Pantograph Press), LOOSE WATCH (Invisible Press), CHAC PROSTIBULARIO (with Ivan Arguelles; Pavement Saw Press), HISTORIETAS ALFABETICAS (Luna Bisonte Prods), PUBLIC CUBE (Luna Bisonte Prods), THE PEEL (Anabasis Press), GLUE (xPress(ed)), LAP GUN CUT (with F. A. Nettelbeck; Luna Bisonte Prods), INSTRUCTION BOOK (Luna Bisonte Prods), la M al (Blue Lion Books), CANTAR DEL HUFF (Luna Bisonte Prods), SOUND DIRT (with Jim Leftwich; Luna Bisonte Prods), BACKWORDS (Blue Lion Books), NOS (Redfox Press), D RAIN B LOOM (with Scott Helmes; xPress(ed)), CHANGDENTS (Offerta Speciale), L ENTES (Blue Lion Books), NOS (Redfoxpress), SPITTING DDREAMS (Blue Lion Books), ONDA (with Tom Cassidy; Luna Bisonte Prods), 30 DIALOGOS SONOROS (with Martín Gubbins; Luna Bisonte Prods), BANGING THE STONE (WITH Jim Leftwich; Luna Bisonte Prods), FASTER NIH (Luna Bisonte Prods), and RREVES (Editions du Silence). He has published, exhibited and performed his word art worldwide in thousands of publications and venues. He was editor and publisher of LOST AND FOUND TIMES (1975-2005), and is Curator of the Avant Writing Collection at The Ohio State University Libraries. Richard Kostelanetz has called him “the seminal American poet of my generation”. His work, publications, and papers are collected in several major institutions, including Washington University (St. Louis), SUNY Buffalo, The Ohio State University, The Museum of Modern Art, and other major libraries. His PhD (UCLA 1970) is in Latin American Literature. Ars Poetica: “Be Blank”






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