Mac Low, Jackson, 1922-2004
Person
Dates
- Existence: 1922 September 12 - 2004 December 8
Nationality
American
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
21 Matched Asymmetries / Mac Low, Jackson ; Cheek C., 1978
Item
Identifier: CC-47571-68580
Scope and Contents
Mac Low explains the compostion of these poems. ""Asymmetries" are nonstanzaic chance-generated poems of which the printed formats are notations for solo or group' performance. They are "asymmetrical" in that they have no regularly repeating stanzaic or other patterns. They are "notations" in that most aspects of their format can be translated into aspects of performance. Notably, the lengths of blank space before, between, & after single words or word strings, & between lines, stand for "temporal holes" -- durations in which readers keep silent or produce single prolonged tones on instruments that can sustain tones evenly (e.g., winds; bowed strings; reed, pipe, & electronic organs; & other electronic & mechanical sound producers). To measure these blanks, each poem page is conceived as a rectangle of which the horizontal sides are the top & bottom lines of words and the vertical sides are imaginary margin lines running parallelly thru the rightmost and...
Dates:
1978