WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ

Friday, July 18, 2014

Auden’s kind

by Roberto Lavidez

hearts grew

unkind

minds blind

where reason

is denied

and love

ignored

we realize

the woods

are deaf

and the sky

nurses

no one

when

wakened

from

a dream

of glory

we find

ourselves in

purgatory

someone

must pay

for our loss

of happiness

our happiness

itself

and the

silence

ripeness

and the

ripeness all

to be free

is often

to be lonely

a storm

of tears

wept in

a corner

are these

the seeds

of a

new life

the healers

and the

brilliant

talkers

the eccentrics

and the

silent

walkers

how can

we will

the knowledge

that we must

know to will

the intricate

play of

the mind

enforce

conformity

with the

orthodox

bone

hearts which

alter

but is

the same

always

earth in love

or in hate

our occupation

leaves no

trace on

this place

where nothing

could have

suffered

sinned

or grown

heroes

are buried

who did not

believe in

death

to be

invisible

and free

without

remorse

earth’s

darkness

invents

the blaze

of heaven

and each life

must itself

decide

to what

and how

it be

applied

why

we’re all

like people

acting in

a play

you must

behave

as if

this were

not strange

at all

occupy

the time

in purely

random

thinking

the centre

that

I cannot

find

is known

to my

unconscious

mind

though

considerate

and mild

and low

the voices of

the questioners

how grandly

would our

virtues

bloom

in a more

conscionable

dust

I must

take charge

of the

liquid fire

and storm

the cities

of human

desire

I am

the solitude

that asks

and promises

nothing

©robertolavidez2014

Thursday, July 17, 2014

extra Pound

by Roberto Lavidez

what is

the use

of talking

and there

is no end

of talking

our mind

is full of

sorrow

who will

know of

our grief

I have

weathered

the storm

I have

beaten out

my exile

through

all the

wood

and the

leaves

are full

of voices

quite out

of place

amid

resistance

to current

exacerbations

a day

when the

historians

left blanks

in their

writings

the grand

piano

utters

a profane

protest

with her

soprano

the bull

runs blind

on the

sword

his lone

might

against

all darkness

opposing

the still

stone dogs

caught in

metamorphosis

in valleys

winding down

toward

the sea

amid the

slaves

learning

slavery

some

in fear

learning

love of

slaughter

at morning

there are

flowers

to cut

the heart

to sing

one thing

when your

song

means

another

and things

growne

awry

a dog

that has

lost

his owner

bewildered

that a

world

shows no

surprise

let us

take arms

against

this sea

of stupidities

there is no

high-road

to the muses

©robertolavidez2014

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Borges and beyond

by Roberto Lavidez

I walk

slowly

like one

who comes

from

so far

away

he doesn’t

expect

to arrive

the deprivations

the ignominies

of growing old

disintegrated

in the depths

of time

this dear

world

losing shape

fading away

sluggishly

your past

existence

magically

lasts

I surface

from

my own

dreams

from

the unseen

horizon

and from

the very

center of

my being

I am

touched

by the

frail

wisdom

lost

in every

man’s death

leaving

a verse

concerning

the sad

hour

images of

infinite and

solitude

the fiction

of time

destroyed

free from

love

from me

the essential

thing

is what we

always miss

the ancient

aura of

an elegy

still haunts

snuffs out

the faint

voice

of the

ancestors

we are

granted

agonies and

ecstasies

within

the web

of their

own

vertigo

all praise

to the

inexhaustible

labyrinth

mythologies

live in

your soul

oh destiny

of Borges

I do not

understand

how time

can pass

a world

of dust

of chance

of nothingness

sometimes

it moves

to pity

to one

eroded

by relentless

seas

©robertolavidez2014

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…

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

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

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

Friday, July 18, 2014

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

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