Fair enough, L.
B

On Thursday, December 3, 2015, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Thanks.
> I'd like to think that the abruptness is in the voice of the poem, the
> personality, rather than in the poem's structure
>
> L
>
> On 3 December 2015 at 03:08, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > Really like this, L, the way you explore and tease out notions of the
> > written word as codified on collected pages but also the personified book
> > voice itself works really compellingly. Not quite sure of the ending
> which,
> > on first reading at least, seems abrupt for such a considered, rambling
> > work.
> >
> > I wonder what your book would say about individual page poems!
> >
> > B
> >
> > On Thursday, December 3, 2015, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]
> <javascript:;>>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > the book says
> > >
> > > all pages are mine
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > but more than that, the book says
> > >
> > > pages take on existence within me
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > a page outside
> > >
> > > is not a page
> > >
> > > but a sheet of paper
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > a sheet of paper does not make a page, nor many pages a decent book
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > it is what is written, each page, judged as a page...
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the content matters
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the book says
> > >
> > > keep pages tiny, hand-sized,
> > >
> > > light but not light-headed,
> > >
> > > slightly too large for the average pocket --
> > >
> > > or your words and illustrations will not seem serious:
> > >
> > > be a nuisance and you will be heard
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the book says that binding and pages,
> > >
> > > considered as concept, content, object and participant,
> > >
> > > are two sides, recto and verso, of one thing,
> > >
> > > an eye to the world,
> > >
> > > a pulse in the throat,
> > >
> > > the subjective and its objective somehow interpenetrating --
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > what is a spoke without a wheel? what is a broken wheel?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > until there were books, continua of pages,
> > >
> > > writings were individual, devoid *largely* of meaning --
> > >
> > > a note would come, perhaps from a great prince to a great prince,
> > >
> > > but would not be considered, situated as it was on a scrap of paper --
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > and you may make the paper as you wish!
> > >
> > > kill the finest strongest animals you have,
> > >
> > > do whatever must be done to their skin
> > >
> > > to make it pliable and receptive to and retentive of ink,
> > >
> > > make the finest ink of the richest earth,
> > >
> > > make the smoothest pens with which to write,
> > >
> > > and practice your scribes in the art of writing
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > but what is a piece of paper to a great prince?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the *words* of the message are best conveyed by human voice
> > >
> > > and so much more easily destroyed --
> > >
> > > a tongue is no match for a knife
> > >
> > > and will not grow back
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > for it seems to me that the message written is not the message
> > >
> > > but a copy thereof which may be thrown away and even forgotten
> > >
> > > but is not destroyed,
> > >
> > > whereas the severed tongue will be eaten by vermin,
> > >
> > > and the voice with which it spoke is itself a portion of the tongue,
> you
> > > see?
> > >
> > > although now it is reduced to grunts by the power of my army –
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > well, I am peaceful: if due credibility is given to my power in deed as
> > in
> > > word,
> > >
> > > and reparations paid for my distress in this matter and so on --
> > >
> > > make the usual threats
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the book says
> > >
> > > a prince who is not recorded is not a prince for long
> > >
> > > better he learn to cope with books than he eschew them
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > and we all turn and listen to the book
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > but what of the binding?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > the binding strengthens
> > >
> > > it is indispensable, but it lacks a separate existence;
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > and the writing on the spine, and the book mark,
> > >
> > > and the index and the foreword, and the preface --
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I am not a thing to be so analysed! a book?
> > >
> > > these things are thin reads
> > >
> > > without the breath of the book entire
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > so says the book
> > >
> > > as if a little foxed
> > >
> > > not quite as cogent as it might be
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > on another page the book says see how I am arranged
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I have my defences
> > >
> > > where only those literary marks
> > >
> > > which are consonant with my aims and objectives
> > >
> > > are allowed to stand -- my guards
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > each page is isolated from the next,
> > >
> > > and converses with its fellows through my structures;
> > >
> > > thus are they ruled, thus are their lives made sensible
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > my territory is subdivided and each subdivision will structure itself
> > >
> > > according to conventions
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > if I were to act, for instance, a certain space would be allocated to
> > > personae,
> > >
> > > those labels we allow the threads which make up the fabric of a plot,
> > >
> > > to assert themselves, like roots, in so far as it is necessary --
> > >
> > > I have my doubts --
> > >
> > > there are more modern and technological approaches
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I would rather it were done with colour,
> > >
> > > I need a little tone, and some pictures,
> > >
> > > than to divide off from my narrative
> > >
> > > an element which is a part of me and it
> > >
> > > and yet is not.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I cannot measure it.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Directions to the actor, some reader who is not a reader,
> > >
> > > a fool who would commit to memory what I have written here available,
> > >
> > > are integrated in the words I have;
> > >
> > > and yet, the naming of the character itself, the transformational
> naming,
> > >
> > > is constrained, not quite inside, not quite without my jurisdiction,
> > >
> > > like some goods in bond
> > >
> > > or a rogue upon a diplomatic passport.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I have similar concern as to acknowledgements.
> > >
> > > They seem to me like coded messages.
> > >
> > > I do not like them.
> > >
> >
>