WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ: December 2014

Sunday, December 21, 2014

what am I to do with it?

(Akhmatova, Mayakovsky, Voznesensky,

Pasternak, Khlebnikov, Mandestam, Pasternak)

by Roberto Lavidez

these days

we’ve got

to take

brass

knuckles

and split

the world’s

skull open

in everything

I feel like

reaching

straight

to the

heart

of the

matter

dreams

are a harm

and it’s

useless to

fantasize

like a

burden

henceforth

superfluous

the shadows

of songs

and passions

have

disappeared

through the

silence

sails

a soundless

chorus of

midnight

birds

I want

to go home

to the

enormity

of the

apartment

that inspires

sadness

a body

is given

to me

what am I

to do

with it

so whole

and so

much

mine?

to leave the

handwriting

of my dust

on the stern

windows

like an

inmate’s

autograph

what are you?

what?!

you look

with longing

into books

through

windows

but where

are you

there?

I would

have laid

out

verses

like a

garden

trembling

in all their

veins

streets

are our

paintbrushes

public squares

our palettes

you think

on the

cheeks of

the café

it’s the sun

that lovingly

caresses

love

madly love

love itself

as the

windows

dissolve

into the

garden

and suck

in the lilac

©robertolavidez2014

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Kafkaesque

obscurity

by Roberto Lavidez

there are only

two things

truth and lies

explained by

the obscurity

of ancient times

I am standing

on a piece

of waste land

dancing the

dances of

the age

in order

to be safe

from the

sirens

escape like

steam in

the very

moment

between

one’s own

words and

one’s own

convictions

this life

appears

unbearable

another

unattainable

a nibbling

at our own

limits

it must end

in the realm

of the

inexplicable

the answer

prowls

round the

question

the thing

is to darken

or even

indeed

to blot out

to annoy

or to deface

or to destroy

completely

yet I do

nothing

to change

anything

there was

a buzzing

and whizzing

in the fields

he who

seeks

does not

find

even the

glimmer

of the

undying

fire

only a

state of

being

that craves

the last

breath

©robertolavidez2014

Saturday, December 13, 2014

the song of

Jim Harrison

from songs

of unreason

by Roberto Lavidez

I’m an

old man

surging

upriver

on the

back

of my

dream

horse

that I

haven’t

seen

since

I was

ten

out of

almost

nothing

for practical

purposes

nothing

then back

as ancient

children

to the

great

nothing

again

the song

of man

and water

moving to

the ocean

nothing to

console

the morning

but the

dried

grasshopper

on my

desk

who fell

apart

at my

powerful

touch

I see

today

that

everyone

on earth

wants the

answer to

the same

question

but none

has the

language

to ask it

in truth

I am

puzzled

most in life

by nine

horses

many of us

live full term

never seeing

the bullet

the empty

plate of

hunger

the invisible

noose of

disease

a few years

back

I began to

lose the

world of

people

I’ve spent

a lifetime

trying to

learn the

language

of the

dead

of course

we are

condemned

to life

without

parole

until the

gods usher

us in to our

executioners

who live in

a hot

windowless

room

always

dark

you walk

through

doorways

in the mind

you can’t

walk out

then one day

you discover

that you’ve

learned

to fly

were it not

for the new

moon

my sky

would

collapse

tonight

so fed by

the waters

of memory

on a cool

night

there is

a break

from the

struggle

of becoming

I suppose

that’s why

we sleep

we want

to sleep

a long time

not forever

but then

to sleep

a long time

becomes

forever

doom

should be

ashamed

of itself

it’s so

ordinary

happening

to billions

of creatures…

would I still

love the

the creek if

I lasted

forever?

©robertolavidez2014

Monday, December 08, 2014

not Ginsberg’s fault

by Roberto Lavidez

I’m an

old man

now

and a

lonesome

man

in Kansas

but not

afraid to

speak my

lonesomeness

in a car

life seems

a passage

between

two doors

to the

darkness

hopeless

the poems

of Dante

and

Shakespeare

such stuff

as dreams

are made of

millions of

babies

watching

the skies

bellies

swollen

with big

round eyes

ah!

together

ah!

make peace!

ah what is

this lightness

that we know

body empty

and the mind

just a lot

of words

and propaganda

I been

spreading

getting

scared of

my own

bullshit

too tired

to go out

for a walk

too tired

to end

the war

too tired

to save

body

too tired

to be

heroic

we all

drop

myself

the poet

aging

on the

stool

how fix

a broken

leg?

ease a

heart attack?

deliver

a baby?

breathe in

the mouth

of a man

dying at

oceanside?

I write

poetry

because

I suffer

confusion

not knowing

what other

people

think

it’s everybody’s

fault

but me

I didn’t

do it

I didn’t

start the

universe

the death

of consciousness

is terrible

and yet!

when all

is ended

what regret?

I always

wanted

I always

wanted

to return

to the body

where I

was born

only return

of thought

to its

source

will

complete

thought

consciousness

changes

nightly

dreams

flower new

universes

in brainy

skulls

©robertolavidez2014

Sunday, December 07, 2014

let me drown

my sorrows

( Fu, Shen, Shangyin, Changqing,

Yengwu, Qi, Yu, Binwang, Haoran,

Tingyun, Zhen, Zhizhang )

by Roberto Lavidez

I’m an

old man

and I do

not know

where I

shall be

heading

looking

east

towards

my old

home

the road

stretching

on and on

I can no

longer

dry my

tears

my heart

is broken

in pieces

so let me

drown my

sorrows

in countless

pints of

Xinfeng ale

there is

no way of

knowing

the ways

of the

world

learn

drinking

songs

instead

the affairs

of the

world

are in

disarray

and hard

for me

to assess

I have

offered up

verses

for ten

years now

but nothing

has come

of them

the road

to heaven

is dim and

dangerous

hard to

clamber up

sad

so sad

at the

pointless

way

I have

wasted

time

in hope

no one

believes in

creatures

noble and

pure

who will

convey

what is in

this heart

of mine

a cold wind

blows in the

emptiness

the moonlight

spreads

in waves

left out

and lonely

what am I

hoping for

anyway

facing the

autumn

waves

I weep

in vain

at the river

my eyes

will just

stay open

wide

all through

the night

to make up

for the fact

that during

your life

you always

furrowed

your brows

they laugh

and ask

where

have you

come from

stranger?

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

in (parentheSwiss) poetry

(Genoux, Jenni, Famos, Voelin, Meier,

Wandelere, Pusterla, Lerjen-Sarbach,

Tappy, Giovanni Orelli, Plouda, Chessex,

Giorgio Orelli, Lansel)

by Roberto Lavidez

something

in me

resists and

chokes

blazes up

at the

slightest

breath

no longer

to the future

but to

the past

your

thoughts

will go

moments

fleeting

lizardlike

bid us

savor life

to the full

words

this day

coming back

to graze

my lips

the udders

of cows are

emptied

and tomorrow

those in

the cities

drink

the milk

everyone

will leave

without me

I’ll linger

among

the leaves

near the

lime tree

needing

only to

sense time

in the new

world

after the

fall of

syntax trees

and main

clauses

the loss

of certainties

and

affirmations

left

will be

parentheses

incidentals and

interjections

whenever

I’m all alone

you are

all here

all our

mingled

lives

only the

wind will

revolve

around

our vanished

voices

in the

depths of

the earth

in the

center of

the world

in my face

traces of

time

smile

at me

when

melancholy

would

invade me

with the

earthly

smell

of the

rain

amid such

a familiar

silence

the dead

live more

than the

living

the laurels

on your

graves are

meaningless

human glory

is worth

nothing!

the pleasure

of pissing

without

a hint

of worry

about the

moon or

the wind

WEBSTRUCTIONISM: Reinventing the World through Creative Language

by Roberto Lavidez

Webstructionism is a name I have given to a theory that explores the use of random words or string of words extracted from various texts and references as construction material for both poetry and art. It is a practice of sequencing words to form new phrases as narrative for painting. It is also a process of extracting and assembling unrelated words and phrases from different sources to create new poetry. What began as a wayward search for an idea for a painting has turned into a method that challenges one’s intellectual approach to words as much as it enhances creative use of language. It has also led to criticizing acquired language after discovering how words can be accumulated and manipulated to effect a thought outside of one’s storage of ideas.

The creative dimension of language use presupposes that man can generate and transform word combinations and grammatical structures that are not commonly articulated in any form of communication. Sentences and phrases that may have no exact parallels in previous English usage can be created and introduced to extrapolate abstract ideas. This rationalist view, in contrast to the empiricist, argues that not all knowledge is derived from and determined by sense experience. It supports the theory of innate ideas whereby some knowledge can result from the inherent structures of the mind. Though external stimulation is necessary to awaken innate capacities, it does not necessarily mean that ideas and concepts result completely from external impressions.

As an artist who is in the habit of not only rendering what is visible in nature, but also capturing what may be deemed unpaintable, I have recognized the viability of the written word as more than a tool for poetry by extending its use as guide material for an experimental pictorial composition. What began as a playful mixing of words from torn pages of an old English dictionary had evolved into a theory encompassing other linguistic theories that bear semblance to Webstructionism. The randomness of stringing words and sequencing of unrelated phrases offer exponential possibilities for creative projects of all media which may provide support to existing theories.

In elucidating the workings of the mind and its capacity to reinvent language, I have embarked on this experimental approach using art and poetry to underscore the creative mental process of forming phrases derived from random extraction of borrowed words. The expression of a thought comes from processing words or phrases that are made available through random selection. I rely on intuition in combining words that normally wouldn’t be selected in expressing a thought in the real sense. Phrases preclude any reference to clichés or predictable word combinations. Though there are instances when memory dictates the stringing of commonly used words to produce a phrase subsequent arrangement almost always lean back to the original intent of surprise of Webstructionism which diverts away from worn out phrases or any reference to immediate reality.

Now, how does this word structure render itself to visual exploration? There is an otherworldly reality inhabiting the canvas space where the arbitrary selections of words provide the framework - syntax as pictorial composition. Symbolic knowledge supersedes the literal in providing the blueprint for the visual imagery. The words that make up the complex phrase is connected by a single drawn line following the sequence of the group of words’ relative use to expressing a thought. The resulting visual abstraction made up of a continuous swirling line connecting words serves as the compositional guide for painting. Enclosed shapes determined by the line weaving through selected words are then painted according to artist’s preference which is directed by intuition and sometimes influenced if not hampered by his predictability of taste and acquired style. Choosing colors to fill in shapes simulate the process of choosing words to make a phrase. Aesthetics that guide the artist’s use of colors however do not necessarily apply the same writer’s approach of mixing words. The sensory appeal of colors influenced by artistic preference and knowledge of the discipline do not strictly correlate to the ordering or sequencing of words in a phrase. Rules are different for each discipline, literary or aesthetic, and compounded by the introduction of Webstructionism, adherence to what has been laid down thus far as rules of the game will eventually yield a more comprehensive scope or objective. Putting yellow next to mauve does not need analyzing as to whether it is representative of nature or an abstract concept as much as combining words ‘grout’ and ‘devout’. Lines and colors do not evoke as much analytical response as words. We can ‘read’ past the random display of colors on a canvas surface, but with words, which is what Webstructionism is driving at, the random selection of words when pasted or written together on the surface compels the literate viewer –reader to translate what may seem outright non-sensical verbiage to something even poetically profound. ‘Grout’ and ‘devout’ may be analyzed as sounding similar but the relevance does not end there. Though they rarely appear together on any text, both words when placed side by side, sans the conjunction, conjures up a meaningful connection or symbiosis. The pious devotee referring to the ‘devout’ requires faith which metaphorically can be associated with the word ‘grout’. Grout ‘fills the space’ which can represent the ‘filling in’ of doubt by the devout or devotee’s faith.

Webstructionist grammar does not reject sense. It does in fact embrace profundity given the right word or in the webstructionist sense ‘the rite’ of words through random selection. It is also, as mentioned, autonomous in the rationalist sense. Syntax is not solely derived experientially. It does not categorically represent sense reality. Sentence construction is rooted in imagination breeding odd selection of words in favor of the commonly used. Since ideas are stimulated by the words made available through random selection the artist is discovering thoughts that may have no parallel in the real sense but which can expand if not add new horizon to the conducive kind of rationality he has been accustomed to.

To illustrate the process of Webstructionism, the line that connects words to form a phrase creates the fluid like image branching into irregular shapes which are then enhanced by color. Words that are not selected are either painted over or left as they are printed on a page. The words taken to form a phrase command the flow of the line according to how each word appears in the sequence. What results as visual abstraction after the line is drawn following the sequence of words is actually a mapping out of the evolution of the phrase. It is similar to connecting dots to form a figure, only the dots are replaced by words and the line that goes through the phrase does not represent any particular figure other than the image it creates out of stringing words.

The first step involves skimming through the dictionary and picking a particular page. Leafing through the pages and stopping at any random page is all instinctive. What follows as the tearing of pages and the haphazard pasting of torn pieces on the canvas surface still requires no mental exertion. The word selection that transpires next, where some are highlighted and others are either left out or erased in the process, is based on the artist’s familiarity or quick recognition of the words. It might take some browsing and discriminate selecting of words but this is as far as the tweaking of the elements go which is not unlike choosing green over purple in coloring a spot. Though there are marginalized words that do not end up in the forming of a phrase the goal is to be able to arrange the retrieved words in the quickest way possible avoiding redundant words that would otherwise spoil the freshness of the selection. The process is similar to picking flowers for an arrangement without giving much thought as to why some are left out and others end up in a vase.

During the sequencing of words, worn out phrases are avoided to explore possibilities of creating a syntax out of unique word combinations. It is a conscious negation of conventional usage of the English language, freeing every formation or phrasing of words from the subjugation of official grammar. Despite the wide variety of descriptive words available to depict reality, common language is forged in its method of representation. The very limitation of vocabulary available to webstruction on the other hand, propels the imagination to forge a reality embedded in the new phrase.

In Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, he rejected the assumption that the meaning of the word is the thing it stands for. Wittgenstein argued that meaning is what is given by explanations of meaning, which are rules for the use of words. It is what is understood when one understands what an utterance means based on several criteria of understanding. “Concepts are not correct or incorrect, only more or less useful. Rules for the use of words are not true or false. They are not answerable to reality, nor to antecedently given meanings. Rather they determine the meanings of words, are constitutive of their meanings.”

The intentionality of thought and language of Webstructionism conveys the subjective proposition of a metaphorical world laden with symbols. The object is not perceived or seen in the spatio-temporal world but is imagined from the relations of words. The personal imaging of thought formed by the play of words is manifested through the content of what is written. Though the puzzle of retrieving usable words to create a thought shares a similar thread of arbitrary use of language to represent external reality, Webstructionist thought gravitates towards the unknown like stumbling upon an intriguing object or mysterious code that needs to be examined or deciphered to reveal its meaning. The meaning is in the process of construction and deconstruction of imaginings. It does not pretentiously encapsulate the essence of a higher reality but can open up to alternative realities. The final end has neither finality nor ending. It can only retrace the arbitrary formation of words. Looking at the amorphous image created by the line tracing all the words that make up the phrase reveals the choices made by the artist and the blueprint of how messaging was processed. The inductive deductive roundabout exegesis behind the pictorial and verse compositions is the operative principle of Webstructionist thought and language. It is picture-making which generates potential variants of invented realities.

Roberto Lavidez

Ontario Canada

WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Monday, December 08, 2014

Sunday, December 07, 2014

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

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