The Potential of Visual-Verbal Poetics in General Society

Lately I’ve been thinking about contemporary poetics, and the bridge between the written word and what many would consider the ‘visual arts’. Traditional poetics would place the verse, or the lyric, upon the page in a highly conservative and non-experimental manner – but, in recent years (and when I say recent, I mean the past forty or fifty years), there has been a creeping of the written word off of the page and onto more non-traditional sources.

Whether they be altered artifacts (garbage, misc. papers), collages, or what I would deem ‘visual poetry’, the breeching of the conservative, poetic view has allowed for fresh and new material to be more accessible to a larger audience. Poetry, it seems, has always maintained an air of exclusivity – one that shuts out the larger society base, and allows in those who are in the “know”, or, those who are directly involved within that particular scene.

For instance, when I began my undergrad and started critically looking at poetry for the first time, I felt a separation between myself and the page. Regardless of who I was reading (at that time it was William Blake), there always seemed to be a great divide – one one side, myself, and on the other side a vast collection of knowledge and analysis about the poem at hand. Over time, this divide was closed through instruction and interpretation, as well as encountering actual poetry workshops in which my own work was molded and manipulated by those who read it. Learning how exactly to read poetry, as well as effectively create it, served as the gateway into the page – into the form, and the art, that constitutes the poetic world. However, for the many individuals outside of the academic world, who may not encounter poetically-based classes, or creative writing workshops… for them, how do they gain access to the poetic world as well?

I feel it would be downright elitist for those creating and writing about poetics to insist that their words are not for the “ordinary individual”. An absurdist thought, for sure – we are all the “ordinary individual” – and society could largely benefit from exposure to the arts on the regular basis. Already, we are seeing in United States’ educational systems a severe lack in writing instruction, creative or otherwise. Funding has been cut from the arts. Development as human beings – regardless of intelligence level or background – is largely based on what is seen and encountered on a visually engaging basis. Take away professional instruction, and look at the basis for understanding… even in children, what is seen is eventually what is known (although, the question of who exactly is doing the showing is what plagues many of the societal issues we face today).

Turning back to poetry, where traditional verse is concerned, we usually encounter the words as they are printed on the page. With or without punctuation, in prose or poetic form, the words are inaccessible for a culture based on visual encounter. That’s not to say that poetry is not inviting for those who want access to it, but for a large base of people poetry is intimidating because it calls into question faculties and aspects of the self that are not necessarily utilized in a visual sense. In an educational system that does not emphasize the development of these aspects of the self, we are thus at a stopping point between reading poetry, and understanding or feeling poetry. This is where visual-verbal poetics comes into play, and where it creates an entrance into the poetic world for those who desire an access point.

In the 1960′s, visual poetry was heavily influenced (or, in some cases, defined by) Fluxus – or a group of artists who utilized various forms of mixed media to influence and display their work. While heavily specific, Fluxus does not definite all visual poetry. Performative works created by those involved within the group generally included some sort of personal engagement, whether musical or physical, and encompassed a vast anti-art disposition that incorporated expressionism, theatre, literature, and the notion of ‘intermedia’.

While using Fluxus as a sort of jumping-off point, the contemporary visual-verbal poetry that I feel tends towards a more open, general community base would not be defined by any established or noted aesthetic group of poets or artists – but, instead, by the “ordinary individual” who creates for the self, rather than for the overarching argument. Visual-verbal poetry defies absolute definition, which, in turn, makes it more valuable to the individual. Examples of contemporary, general visual-verbal poetry can be seen here - a tumblr entitled ‘Visual Poetry’, that displays various forms of created, physical poetic work.

For the individual seeking an immersion in poetics, looking at the basis for poetic creation (IE, typewriters, ink, paper) as a means for expression of words and feelings (seeing how the individual interacts with these various forms) can invite feelings or opinions not otherwise encounterable. What should be remembered, and what is most highly emphasized by visual-verbal poetry, is that there isn’t necessarily any true meaning to be understood. Rather, creation for creations’s sake – the self emitting works, or interpreting works, for the self within the world is the basis for poetic art. The question “why?” can be answered with the simple “because” – or, more evocatively, “because I felt x and was inspired by y”. The poetics, namely of visual-verbal poetry, involve the application of language – the conversation between language as a component and its influence on the self, or the self’s influence or conversation with language. It is to be enjoyed by everyone, and not necessarily those involved in a certain, limited context.

An article on visual poetics by Geof Huth (blog) can be found on the Poetry Foundation’s website, here.

Poetry should not exist for the reader as an inaccessible world. Rather, poetry should be manipulated, should be played with and molded by those reading. What feelings arise when looking at poetic art? What opinions? These are questions that should be valued by the community as a whole, and not just those involved with poetry on an academic basis. Poetry is viewable language – and visually based things, whether art or poetics, fuel the base of the human mind. To see is to understand, on one level or another, and we can see the impact that visuals create through the involvement of the viewable and the poetic.