[-empyre-] Re: found poetry.

[Julian Oliver]

..on or around Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 11:10:59PM -0700 h w wrote: 
> For some reason, I have a knack for "finding poetry".
> 
> When I was living in Washington DC, back in the 1980s, for a few months I had a temp job at the Washington Post in the Classified Advertising section, taking ads over the phone. There was a walk up window at the street as well. And every few weeks this Very Crazy Person would come to the window and leave these strange bits of prose and sometimes poetry at the window, expecting that we would print his work in the classified section.
> 
> I remember him as medium height with a powerful muscular build, and with an almost blue-black complexion. And he always arrived in a sun dress and heels. He was completely daft. They would explain that they couldn't print his work in the classifieds, and he would insist on leaving his work there, thinking maybe they will take pity and find a place for his writing. They never did, and it would make its way upstairs. I would collect these works. I never got his name - he was the crazy guy in the sun dress...
> 
> I have them in a manila envelope packed away somewhere.
> 
> Also in that envelope is a 40 page exegesis by a fellow who was convinced that the local postmaster was depriving him of his constitutional rights to free speech and was in cahoots with a local bishop who had sexually abused him. He wrote this incredibly detailed work in communication with a lawyer I worked with at AT&T, when I was part of the anti-trust litigation team as a research analyst. I was dating the librarian, and she knew I collected works of found art, especially written works, and she xeroxed it and several other similar works of equally weird content.
> 
> When worked as a typesetter in DC in the late 1980s, we got an envelope in the mail from a gentleman in Bangkok. His name was Fa Poonvoralak. He was trained in mathematics, and wrote several theoretical chapbooks of theory and text and asked us to publish his work. We didn't, but years later I granted his request and published it myself on my website, here: 
> 
> http://www.kether.com/words/poonvoralak/index.html
> 
> It's very peculiar, yet fascinating stuff.

it certainly is.. perhaps the oddest thing about some of the text is the
that he appears to be deriving conclusions through the ordering of
statements that spontaneously assume new subjects.

for instance:

    There is an interesting phenomenon. Many new ideas prevail only for
    a decade and are then out of date. Although they are witty and
    profound. Therefore we have to

    1. join a process, this process is unbounded
    2. the function of each member is unique

from

    http://www.kether.com/words/poonvoralak/OrdinaryWritings/ordinary05.html

the next page is simply fantastic.

    One morning I got up and found out that each deed I had done before
    separated itself from me, it was independent. When I investigated
    it, my investigation was independent from both me and what it was
    investigating. When I thought of madness, madness separated itself
    from me, it was independent.

his proposal to change titles (Mr/Mrs) for 'Relation' in the next book
is hilarious and super. it reads like a Stoic metaphysics - i wonder if
he's read of these people? 

i enjoyed the excessive examples especially.

    http://www.kether.com/words/poonvoralak/FunctionalArt/functional03.html

good stuff,

-- 
julian oliver
http://julianoliver.com
http://selectparks.net
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