Material description
Why a rubber soul? It’s just a pun, a term Paul McCartney came up with for the Beatles sixth album… it basically means ‘English Soul’… Seemed to sum it up for me.
Apart from some minor roles in school plays, I’ve only ever once acted on the stage… I played a corpse… rather unconvincingly.
But the concrete poetry…
It’s quite fun to get into it. The idea that the arrangement and appearance of the words convey just as much as their meaning. It turns everything with type into art – hand-written sticky notes, product packaging and even bus tickets.
It was all about the necessity to convey meaning in a finite amount of space too. You don’t get a lot of room on a bus ticket, so you have to make it count.
And then recently I realised something else. The internet has made most people concrete poets. Line breaks, bold, italic and even underlines are all ways of adding expression to text – and I’ve seen a lot of inventive uses employed in adding comedy and emphasis.
The difference being though that concrete poetry loses one of its restraints in the virtual world. It is no longer confined by a limited space.
I’m not going to do it here, a piece of infinite concrete poetry, nor would I personally want to make it by hand, but there is a way to show you.
In fact, most people that know basic programming will already know it –
10 Print “the infinite generation of poetry”
20 Goto 10
I didn’t say it would be a good poem, just an infinite one. Plus, who would know if it wasn’t infinite, I doubt they’d have time to check.
And so, I’ve updated the comments section and given you a wysiwyg editor.
Play around, make something and then start telling all you friends and family that you are a poet.
justine on 
i’ve seen text placement used to great effect in graphic novels. i’m not sure whether that counts tho’
I think it probably does… There is a complex relationshop between wordart, comics and concrete poetry. The lines are not that distinct.
Any novels in particular?
the best example i know is Hellsing, by Kohta Hirano. the plot isn’t anything special, but the pictures and words and timing are all put together stunningly
( the Vatican and French colonel mercenaries under the command of a secret British organization take on vampire Nazis) (yay)
I know the one… a similar style to the subtitles in the film ‘Nightwatch’ (and possibly the sequel ‘daywatch’…which I have yet to see)… vampires galore there too, sort of.
really? I’m surprised
manga usually aren’t well-known outside of a few dedicated fans
Grrr, I wrote a really good comment, and the wireless network died in the a**e, and opera lost the text, which is unusual.
*cries*
In my comment, I heavily alluded that this was a forum, by calling it such.
I mentioned Terry Pratchett, so you know it was a good comment.
I discussed the ramifications of graffitti on word art and society.
All that in a comment that was shorter then this one.
Impressive, no?
I hope the new comment thing wasn’t responsible…
….that did sound like a good comment too…
Is anyone else having problems?
I discussed the ramifications of graffitti on word art and society – any chance of getting that again?
now i really want to see it
No, it is gone for ever.
Gone, like the wind.
It is water under the bridge.
It is thoughts stolen by a summer breeze.
It was not for here.
I really doubt that it had anything to do with the really cool new mods (that I refuse to use
), likely just Opera being difficult.
Well, you know what this calls for?
in Just- spring when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles far and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it’s spring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far and wee and bettyandisbel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it’s spring and the goat-footed balloonMan whistles far and wee ~e.e. cummings
ack! Where’d all my line breaks go?
in Just-
spring
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it’s
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it’s
spring
and
balloonMan
far
and
wee
e.e. cummings
Damn, I thought I knew what it was too. I give up.
Unfortunately, wordpress has decided to become sentient to the level that it expresses a distinct hatred of ‘loose’ formatting.
We’re going to sit down and have a talk about it tonight and I’m going to put forward the case that liberal typesetting is an expressionistic art-form that will enable my readers to react on an aesthetic level… and wordpress will put forward the case that I can go and **** myself.
Ooooh! It looks right now!
when i was first taught about concrete poetry in school, i hated it.
but now it’s starting to grow on me
I am the only person who can’t help but read that poem as if it was being spoken by William Shatner?
Ha, ha, now that you mention it…
Perhaps all poetry should be read as if Shatner was reading it.
*test runs Kipling’s ‘If’ inside own head*
Well, it works.
Oh, but Patrick Stewart would be much prettier to listen to, wouldn’t he?
My favourite episode of ‘Extras’ features Patrick Stewart.
I think you can see some of it here.
You know, in the right mind set, they are both good outcomes that could be fun.