Ravel’s Death MaskDigital Bricolage, Daniel Y. Harris
Jean Echenoz, Ravel (closing line; trans, Linda Coverdale)
[Ravel]
goes back to sleep, he dies ten days later;… he leaves no will, no image on
film, not a single recording of his voice.
We
all unravel · in a reverse boléro
Ligature
by ligature
Bitty,
filmy leaves in a book that seems
to
exist largely on the surface (sur·face
(Honest
to God the heart still aches
to
see them trying)
A
hung signifier is death by signified
For
the record, He
is no longer
afraid
of the void (or voice
Good
luck with that image, manno
give
him another tenner
Then
will him to pray
or
prey on his will [1]
VenantiusDigital Bricolage, Daniel Y. Harris
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (section heading; trans, William Weaver)
In
which Adso writhes in the torments of love, then William arrives with
Venantius’s text, which remains undecipherable even after it has been
deciphered.
We
forgot to say please
an
ass-backward sign, surely
AS
if, from Asbo to Adso [2]
it
doesn’t add up
(clunk
to monk)
Signif·i·cant
grapheme drag
—
pls decipher
(In
which Adso, in the scriptorium, reflects on the
history
of his order and on the destiny of books)
The
dumb luck of cooked books
The
disorderliness of their
Novel Lines [3]
The FranchiserDigital Bricolage, Daniel Y. Harris
Stanley Elkin, The Franchiser
Past
the orange roof and turquoise tower, past the immense sunburst of the green and
yellow sign, past the golden arches, beyond the low buff building, beside the
discrete hut, the dark top hat on the studio window shade, beneath the red and
white longitudes of the enormous bucket, coming up to the thick shaft of the
yellow arrow piercing the royal-blue field, he [the strip mall franchiser]
feels he is home.
Logos,
low ghosts & colorized sign·i·frieds
Gather
ye strip malls where ye may
Scope
& scoop ’em out, hang a fire sale sign
It’s
just like scarf’ing start-ups for PoWorld
(but
don’ choke the phoneme, its trigger’s
bigger’n
you, fou)
Here
is where your franchise lies, poesy —
Virtue
sign·aling (a ding ding
your
own i·dent·ity ity bitty
#PO’em,
exclusive [4]
*Novel Lines 101: 101 alphabetical poems, each riffing on the opening line of a postmodern novel or metafiction *
[1] The two italicized quotes are from Adam Gopnik’s “Foreword” to
Echenoz’s Ravel & from the closing line in Echenoz’s novel Big
Blondes; the first tenner in “Antunes” (if anyone’s counting)
[2] See Novel Lines 101,
“Martin Amis, Lionel Asbo”
[3] The italicized lines:
another section heading in The Name of the Rose
[4] It’s of course
requisite now to pose in a scarf at your standard indoor poetry reading; &
just tidbits: Spicer, Herrick, Creeley
