Just outside of Buffalo, New York, Michael Basinski lives a little past the airport. In 2018 he published Opems (Burchfield Penney Art Center), which documents his large scale visual, sound, and performance poem exhibition titled Opems: Verbal-Visual Combines, https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/exhibitions/exhibition:03-09-2018-06-24-2018-opems-verbal-visual-combines/
Other books include: Unexplained Noises, (Buffalo Ochre Papers), Lot Sa Nots O http://xexoxial.org/is/lots_sa_nots_o/by/michael_basinski, and with Ginny O’Brien, Combings http://www.redfoxpress.com/dada-basinski2.html Combination of the Two, an exhibition of O’Brien’s and Basinski’s cooperative visual work and visual poems opened in early January 2019 at the Western New York Book Arts Collaborative. His most recent books of poetry are Tub Bunny, (Spuyten Duyvil) http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/tub-bunny.html
And Salvage (BlazeVOX[books])
http://www.blazevox.org/index.php/Shop/Poetry/salvage-by-michael-basinski-557/
Among the spots his work has appeared are: Blazing Stadium, Peach Mag, Dispatches from the Poetry Wars, Angry Old Man, Journal of Poetic Research, Word/For Word, Fell Swoop, Kenning, Rampike, Filling Station, Ur Vox, Damn the Caesars, Nerve Lantern, Mimeo Mimeo, Vanitas, Talisman, Vort, and Poetry.
Comment: “Ode Daphne” and “Five Eclipses in Under 12 and Half Minutes”
are performative sound poems for voice and instrument ensemble. Voice sound and instrument sound are interchangeable. Individuality is significant in recitation. Each poem offers some parameters.
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Five Eclipses in Under 12 and Half Minutes
For solo or ensemble performance. Perform the text by reading at a normal pace. Five times during the text an eclipse occurs. Continue to read the text at a normal pace during the eclipses but alter the pitch of the rendering during eclipse. Eclipses are bolded. Eclipses could be scored for instruments or vocalists. Orchestrate variously by whim.
Ralph L. Roys translation of a Mayan text describes a solar eclipse as the face of the sun being eaten which allowed a monster to plunge head down toward the earth during the darkness. The middle imix river starts with ik akbal symbol for a solar kan chicchan cimi eclipse beneath it is manik lamat muluc oc old woman chuen eb ben ix men cib caban ezneb cauac ahau pop uo zip zotz tzec xul yaxkin mol chen mol yaxkin xul tzec zotz zip uo pop ahau cauac ezneb caban cib men ix ben eb chuen a serpent yax zac che mac on her head and kankin muan pax and crossbones on her skirt kayab cumhu death empties uayeb into a stream. At the bottom is the black god often associated with death with a vulture on his head and two spears in his right hand. A ring from Andvari’s hoard, seized by Loki, Andvari puts fehu curse on it that it will be the death of whoever uruz thurisaz. Odin attempts to keep it for himself but is forced to give it up. Although not explicitly mentioned ansuz raido kaunan forms part of Fafnir’s gebo wunjo bagalaz naudiz isaz which Siguard wins after he slayed Fafnir feoh ur porn us rad cen gieful wyn haegl neid is gear eoh peor eolh sigel tiwter beorc oeh man ing epel daeg epel ing man oeh beorc tiwter sigel eolh peor eoh gear is neid haegl wyn gieful cen rad us porn ur feoh Siguard takes back jera ihwaz eihwaz perb algiz sowilo Andvaranaut, from Brynhild tiwaz teiwaz berkanan ehwaz they break up. Really, she throws it at him. Andvari is a dwarf who lives in a waterfall manaz laguz ingwaz in the shape of pike along Buffalo Creek by the grain silos. Loki catches the pike obila obala his to give up his gold treasure dagaz ransom for his life. He puts a curse on the ring, Andvaranaut, that it will be the death of whoever wears it. To which the cherry is liable. The black aphis a or plant louse, is often very injurious to young trees in the nursery, causing a stunted and distorted ha ai aiai or newly grafted trees, sometimes destroying them. The best remedy is the application of whale oil soap. A teacupful kwe nwa papa dissolved in a pail of water, and applied by syringe, or by immersion of infested branches, which papapa pte pupu death of insects, and must be repeated every few days until no more are found a da ja ha ma na pa ra ta ya wa za e de je ke me ne pe qe re se te we ze i di ki mi ni pi qi ri si ti wi zi o do jo ko mo no po qo ro so to wo zo u du ju ku mu nu pu ru su tu zu tu su ru pu nu mu ku ju du u zo wo to so ro qo po no mo ko jo do o zi wi ti si ri qi pi ni mi ki di i ze we te se re qe pe ne me ke je de e za wa ya ta ra pa na ma ha ja da a the Cheery slug, when in large numbers, does serious injury by eating the rara rija rarara. This animal, which appears to be the larva of an insect, is about half an inch long, and dark rai roro rijo greenish brown when filled with food. Its smooth, shining, and jelly-like skin, and snail sija tata appearance have given it the name slug. It may be repelled by dusting the cherry leaves regularly, while wet tija morning dew with dry fresh marijuana ashes. Perhaps the greatest enemy to the cultivation of the cherry is the lawless boy. All about the cherry orchards were lions, and wolves of the mountains hai the goddess had given evil good drugs and enchanted, and these kes tut hu ur attack on the poets, but came up to them, waving their long tails and fawning, in the way that dogs quet que ati khart nu khefti msha fawning about their mistress, when she comes home smashed for ser aau semsu nekht nini khus always brings back something to please them, so these wolves with great strong claws and lions came urt hen tua amen hap uab sath fa atep kat heh fawning onto the poets of the Kenyon Review, but they were afraid when they saw the terrible big menu sau shaps kher a ari beq mes papa mena renn beasts and her breasts a ma ti neh her bak herra heernub ament keeert neter her sma taui sep akhem mt ner mut nebti m ma mi er met mbah tchehuti gem ham ba baiu aakh benu bah tesher usha tchefa sa apt gebb rekti hetem seta aq pa khem qema then ur netches rekh u tha sesh sent ba sent sesh tha u rekh neethes ur then qema khem pa aq seta gebb apt sa tchefa usha tesher bah benu aakh baiu ba ham gem tchehuti mbah met er mi ma m nebti mut ner mt akhem sep taui sma her neter keeert ament heernub herra bak her neh ti ma a and they took on the look of pigs, she ar an rem khabes ta at utcha utchatu ar khent fent with the heads and voices and bristles of pigs, but the minds within them stayed as ra sep tef metu aat pestch shat sekhen n ka hemka hey had been before. So, crying they went in, and before them Circe threw down acorns tcheser khen aha khu ameh remen ta m henk aa for them to eat, and ilex and cornel buds, such food as pigs who sleep on the ground always feed on nekht kherp tchep kep am tcheba metr you will be afraid and invite you to go to bed with her. Do aqa tha bah ka met hem au an uar not then resist or refuse the bed gehs teha gerg qunem of the goddess, for so she will set free your companions, and care for bha also, but bid her swear the great oath of the blessed gods, that she has no other evil hurt that she is devising against you, so she will not make you weak, and unmanned, once you are naked. A few weeks later, Herbert and Elena were sunbathing in the nude when they noticed a rivulet of raw honey. Atop a rocky bluff, they come across an enormous hive of giant honeybees, which attack them. As Herbert and Elena escape from the hive into a large flooded cave, they spot the submarine Nautilus akhkharu deep inside. They enter the sub, but knowing that it belongs to someone else, retreat, swimming out of the cave into the hot sea. Meanwhile, Harding alal xul barra Spillet, Neb, Mary, and Pencroft spot an approaching pirate ship dingir xul edin na zu Ho Ho and a bottle of rum gelal gigin xu gidim xul idimmu idpa try to hide, but are discovered, and a fight with the pirates ensues kashshaptu lalartu lalassu lilit maskim castaways prevail only after an explosion mysteriously sinks the pirate xul mulla xul rabishu telal uggae uruku utuk xul with all hands aboard adar anshar anshagal anu buzur dumuzi ea eanna edin eengurra ekur kur kurgal ekur enki enlil ezinu gibil gula hebat hersagmu igigi kandinger kienger kingu kishar kishargal magan mammi nanna nanshe nergal nina ninagal ninazu ninigiku ninhusag ninkashi ninlil nimulmulla ninsuna ninti ninurta sabitu sarrat irkalli shinar sumer tiamat zikia tiamat sumer shinar irkalli sarat sabitu ninurata initi insuna nimumulla ninlil ninkashi ninusag ninigiku ninazu ninagal nina nergal nansshe nanna mammi magan kishargal kishar kingu kienger kandinger igigi hersagmu hebat gula gibil ezinu enlil enki ekus kurgal kut ekur eengurra edin eanna ea dumuzu buzur anu anshagal anshar adar once outside, the castaways reunite and meet Captain Nemo, who ma kima mala ma l ulu ina sus u summa ina lu is living aboard his disabled submarine as a bohemian poet. Nemo kima ina u ku su suati ina sunu annu ina has been watching the castaways and secretly assisting them by kiam anna minus a mimma minu sending the chest of supplies, including pork-n-beans sa asar ayyu sa ayyumma shooting the giant prehistoric bird, and sinking the pirate ship. He invites them to dinner of mannu sa mamman aboard the Nautilus, where he tells them that the giant creatures ammeni encountered are results of his genetic experiments to enlarge the world's food resources, thereby eliminating hunger, economic competition, and political greed, which are the root causes of war.
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