That's a particularly fascinating idea, especially when it comes to the
concrete poetry of the 1960s (a fad in which both Czech poets Vaclav
Havel and Jaroslav Siefert participated). Certainly Williams'
versification would present that sort of challenge. Naturally, sometimes
whitespace has meaning; and then, sometimes whitespace is just whitespace.
Roger Day wrote:
> Weren't the Czechs also particularly good at this sort of programming.
> I remember they used to scare me silly when I was a kid. Still had to
> watch them though.
>
> Playing against type, I share an office with a Norwegian who can't
> STFU. Computer programmers work in silence, with only the sound of
> keyboards clacking so there is a conflict somewhat. After a year of
> fierce exchanges, I no longer hear the Wagner choruses...
>
> Maybe poets have an analogous relationship with white-space?
>
> Roger
>
> On 12/6/05, Knut Mork Skagen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> On Dec 6, 2005, at 03:34, George Hunka wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I can't speak for Europeans, but I think we Americans are a little
>>> afraid of silences and empty spaces; we want to put something there,
>>> make some noise, have a presence.
>>>
>> Scandinavians, at least, live almost exclusively off silences and empty
>> spaces. Its influence reaches as far as children's television, which is
>> full of anxious facial expressions, eery music, and dramatic pause.
>>
>> --Knut
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> http://www.badstep.net/
> http://www.cb1poetry.org.uk/
>
>
>
--
George Hunka
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http://www.ghunka.com
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