Offhand references to absurd Russians | Lev Rubinstein, Philip Metres, Daniil Kharms

An email today from Philip Metres brought back fond memories of a project he presented for the Poems-For-All Series back in 2003. Russian poet Lev Rubinstein likes to construct his poems with each line on a seperate index card. Philip provided a translation he and Tatiana Tulchinsky did of Lev's poem Unnamed Events and the poem was produced on a series of miniature cards presented in an envelope with the cover you see to the left.

A little something about Lev Rubinstein. This quote from Phil's website provides a concise insight: "Rubinstein is the true heir of the OBERIU artists of the late 1920s. Like his most illustrious predecessor, Daniil Kharms, Rubinstein creates deadly serious, devastatingly funny comedy that incorporates a broad range of literary forms. In the precise translations of Philip Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky, this witty and elegant work is available to an English-language public in its full glory for the first time." --Andrew Wachtel (commenting on Lev Rubinstein's Catalogue of Comedic Novelties available from Ugly Duckling Press)

I enjoyed publishing Lev's "booklet" in the Series (PFA #254) because it introduced me to another Russian avant garde poet. (Daniil Kharms is already represented in the Series with PFAs #234 Blue notebook no. 10 and #235 Four Illustrations of How a New Idea Disconcerts a Man Unprepared for It.)

It was a project that also challenged me to look beyond the conventional production I've used for most of the little books that come out as part of the Series. I like a challenge. And I've been challenged again. Poet Richard Kostelanetz accompanied his recent submissions with the following request: Please try to transcend your customary designs.

FEB 9 | Kathy Acker's Dangerous Daughters (ride again)

Poet (& Poems-For-All Pusher) MK Chavez sent out an end-of-the-year missive which indicated the next Acker's Dangerous Daughter reading would be on Feb. 9th with Cassandra Dallet, Debbie Kirk, Melissa Hansen and Julia Vinograd in the lineup. Softly caress MK's name for a link to further details.

Imperialism Update! (3)

Our friend, journalist, raconteur and fish-sniffer Dan Bacher, sends this timely Imperialsim update: "From clandestine sources I am disclosing a document of earth-shaking proportions, The North Star Declaration from the Popular Front for the Liberation of the North Pole.

Herewith is a brief extract from this radical document:

Imperialism and the North Pole
Having been forced out of Europe, we realized that, alone at the North Pole, we were no match for rising industry controlled by businessmen. Santa’s Village was set up as a handicraft cooperative solely for the purpose of perpetuating Santa’s plan for keeping the habit of sharing alive. In the early days we were able to carry on our good work inside the capitalist and feudalist countries. But things changed. Eventually, Santa’s reindeer and sleigh had to compete with modern fighter jets and we were blockaded. Imperialism in general, and U.S. Imperialism in particular, has a special reason for blockading our country. By blockading our country, imperialism forces us to sell the only product it will buy: our culture.

Our culture is now the product used to sell consumerism and capitalism, the exact opposite of sharing and socialism. Consumerism is a way for businessmen to make a profit. Profit-taking is a form of hoarding more than a fair share of the community’s surplus. Supposedly, hoarding brings security. But in fact hoarding is a statement of insecurity. It is a vote of no confidence in the community. Hoarding is actually the cause of insecurity!

We are being used. The capitalists only lift the blockade on Christmas. In a country as rich as the U.S., the fact that Christmas isn’t celebrated every day, but only once a year, is excellent testimony for our cause.

Imperialism Update! (2)

Viva! The (tiny) book arts!

Pictured above a tiny book gift from Sharon Tanovitz. For a gabbier post on her, the book and her upcoming book binding class click the image.

Imperialism Update! (1)

The first publication I ever "designed" was The Imperialism Update, a newsletter I created for a college Model United Nations Class. My comrades from the Eastern Bloc and I (representing the nation of Czech when it still had its Slovakia attached) used it as a weekly broadside against... well... everyone else. Printed on heavy bright red stock--natch!--the articles had to be typed (as in on a typewriter); images were photocopied then cut-and-paste. The headlines were blocky, all-cap Helvetica; each letter painstakingly rubbed off dry transfer sheets. This little newsletter (four pages, both sides of a folded 11" x 17" sheet) could take days to layout. The headlines were never straight. The photos (usually of the snarling instructor, who roleplayed Albania) and cartoons (typically lampooning the United States) were always too dark on that ink-sucking red paper. The Imperialism Update violated every rule of good graphic design.

But it was my first. My first design. My first creative collaboration that ended with something in print. It was sardonic. It was red. It kept me up late at night, laughing with friends as we tried to find fresh insults to print about Albania. Of everything I've ever designed, it is my favorite.

DEC 12 | Peace Vigil

The skies have darkened, my friends. For years, the relentless thump, thump... thud of war drums. An administration hell-bent. Even as their mad plans unravel, even as the majority stands against them, they blindly "stay the course."