WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Laytonic

(skimming Irving Layton)

by Roberto Lavidez

did I turn

from dragons

to live

with fleas

the innocence

of nature’s

cannibalism

heals and

purifies

my thoughts

skimming

the air

bid me

to take

my quiet

rest

at home

leaves and

shadows stir

languorously

there’s

a change

unresting

change

in the

changeless

eternal forth

done forever

with the

insult of birth

I live among

the amnesiacs

they’re about

as useless

as tits

on a bull

I’m sucked

into a

whirlpool

of earth

decadent

inert

enough

energy

remaining

only

to suffer

evil

in any case

I’m adjusting

my organs

to the

future

desire

unspent

had all

but spent

spoiled

a dignity

I shall not

again find

another step

and I shall

be where

I started

from

without

a quaver

of misgiving

or self-doubt

vaginas

once gave

birth to

mediocre

poetry

to ecstasies

and sighs

the calm sea

the blue sky

the laughing

children are

deceptions

let me

not taste

this

desolation

that unclimbable

mountain

I rage

I heard

my voice

cry

prayers

resounded

like curses

I would

gather

my tears

into an urn

and I grow

deaf

to all

©robertolavidez2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

languaging Rilke

by Roberto Lavidez

nothing is

what it is

it’s as though

everything

would have

a second life

so that

for time

we act life

transported

not thinking

of applause

the hard

labor of

living

the long

experience

of love

when

together

we felt

happiness

it belonged

to none

of us

you language

where

languages

end

for no course

leads back

the endlessly

ventured

hastening

through

the once

existent

future

for everything

still lacks

conclusion

creatures

of a dream

engendered

in the throes

of anguish

that you

occupied

and left ache

being opposite

and nothing else

and always

opposite

we were

happiest with

what always

stayed

the same

how strangely

everything

behaves

the mountains

are heavy

the oceans

are heavy

we see only

the reflection

of the Open

which our

own presence

darkens

pining rifts

into the

old abysses

endlessly

falls

pure

immense

no longer

to be

lived in

flowers

yellow pearls

slender bones

hands and

tunics

faded

weavings

above the

caved-in heart

aren’t they all

that way

simply

self-

containing

sing the

gardens

my heart

those you

never knew

may death

less darkly

find its way

then solitude

runs with

the rivers…

©robertolavidez2014

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Baudelaire’s

resting place

by Roberto Lavidez

at the hour

when the

chaste stars

close their

eyes

the grave

will whisper

to you

in those

enormous

nights

where your

floating

dreams

are full of

hummingbirds

overbrimming

with dark and

melancholy

pleasures

torrential rain

opaque sky

making a

scene of

gloom

insatiably

hungering for

whatever is

obscure and

uncertain

without

the least

understanding

of eternal

designs

what charm

there is in

nothingness

dressed

to kill

man endures

the fear of

mystery

wherever

he is

in what potion

in what wine

in what brew?

you earn

forgiveness

through

eternal

martyrdom

for everything

cracks

yes

even love

and beauty

reducing

to ashes

all the fire

that once

flamed

for us

when the

setting sun

bloodens

the sky

with scarlet

wounds

like some

cook with

morbid

tastes

I boil and

eat my

own heart

exchanging

many

a nudge

and many

a wink

all chaos

swirled into

intelligence

evoking

happy

moments

opening

flowers

into the

azure sky

©robertolavidez2014

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Cummings

and goings

by Roberto Lavidez

life is an

old man

carrying

flowers

on his head

beautifully

wandering

in merciful

miracles

this man’s

heart is

true to

his earth

filled with

newly

murdered

flowers

for all men

kill the thing

they love

though wish

and world

go down

one poem yet

shall swim

the dogs

are conspiring

bodies

lopped of

every

prettiness

since

we are

spanked

and put

to sleep

by dolls

someone

has been

born

everyone is

no one

a little

innocence

creates

a day

let’s live

suddenly

without

thinking

like a

weird

lamp post

on a road

of dreams

the utter

silence

of the

untranslated

stars

feeling

throughout

ignorant

disappearing

what time is it

I wonder

never mind

crickets

within me

whisper

an oceaning

abyss of

orange dream

I am a beggar

always who

begs in

your mind

at pitiless

the mercy of

time

may myself

do nothing

usefully

what a

wonderful

thing

is the end

we’re

a mystery

which will

never

happen

again

©robertolavidez2014

Ginsbergian Air

By Roberto Lavidez

the planet

hanging

the air

hanging

cumulus

clouds

float across

blue sky

reality is

a question

of realizing

how real

the world is

already

mouths

bleeding

on every

continent

my own

wall plaster

cracked

that horror

that keeps me

conscious

in the hell

of birth

and death

I fear

that others

may know

I am here

delivering

anxiety

mushrooms

to the dancing

red gummed

skeletons

dying

to finish

its all

too famous

misery

crying

dysentery

boneface

on the

urinal

street of

the self

who am I?

saliva

vegetable soup

empty mouth?

Buddha died

and left

behind

a big

emptiness

not even

the human

imagination

satisfies

the endless

emptiness

of the soul

I cashed

a great check

in my

skull bank

take it

said the

skeleton

but leave

my bones

alone

Holy! Holy!

I didn’t

come here

to solve

anything

too tired

to go out

for a walk

too tired

to end

the war

birdbrain

runs

the world

someone

uncontrolled

by History

would have

to own Heaven

I cried

at the

sadness of

middle-aged

trees

a lost

battalion

of platonic

conversationalists

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

walking

between

Vallejos

By Roberto Lavidez

walking

between

colorless

protests

I carry

absentmindedly,

relics, things,

memories,

suggestions

to return

by the minute

across exploded

bridges

when the street

is hollow-eyed

with doors

my anxious

heart

whispers with

I don’t know

what recollection

I came

as far

as the wall

facing life

misery

pulls me out

between

my own teeth

to what

we are being

without

knowing it

let me flog

myself

like a sinner

unending rope

like a volute

descending

from evil

the pleasure

of suffering

extended

toward the

depth of beings

who? whom?

who, the molars?

I sounded

toward things

in this way

seeking

burials of

absurd gold

time is

crowned

with doves

and the future

is filled

with

caravans

of immortal

roses

today

no one

has come

to inquire

sing

rain on the

coast

still without

sea

a tragic

blue

of dead

idylls

weeps

each

melodious

fruit

will bleed

like a

funereal

sun

except

for that

which is

left

in life!

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Rimbaudiness

by Roberto Lavidez

I might

glimpse

my darling’s

assumption

as I patiently

sought means

and ends

I don’t say

a word

I just stare

at the flesh

I will know

the ancient

charm of the

essential

turning

infamy

into glory

cruelty

into charm

we know

how to live

completely

every day

flowed

a tear

a tear of love

neither

tormenting

nor tormented

and nothing

is put away

immobile

and mute

every rebel

plants a kiss

slowly

advancing on

pale horses

to redeem

the wanting

we produce

left me

with an

agreeable

memory

I went

to sleep

but not

before

having drunk

water from

the stream

out of joy

it became

a fabulous

opera

perhaps

moons and

comets

collide at

these depths

seas and

stories

O fertile mind

boundless

universe

what do

my words

mean

the child

feels

an urge

to cry

welling

and dying

endlessly to

over-flowing

with fruits

and fragrant

flowers

in grumbling

trees and

nocturnal

sighs

to hell

with my

suffering

if we

returned

to exile

I would be

to blame

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

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Blog Archive

Search This Blog

About

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Thursday, July 03, 2014

Search This Blog

Subscribe To

About