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The Club Ha Ha Gate, 2001

 Item — Folder: 79
Identifier: CC-37353-39205

Scope and Contents

In Daniels' book, "The Gates of Paradise," this poem is printed on pages 109 and 110. The shape is that of a deer with antlers perched upon an intricate goblet that might have been made adapted from Beatrice Ward's "The Crystal Goblet." Daniels describes his poems prints in a personal communication to Marvin Sackner as follows: "Its kind of like walking up to a painting and examining the brushstrokes. The fonts in giant form are"new" and "strange" in a way. Also they make a design of their own. Plus I raise and lower fonts to make curves. People see them as if they never saw them before. Good old Times Roman invented by the Romans to incise sharp shadows for readability on their stone cut signs and developed by The London Times in the 19th Century to acheive clarity while cramming words tight in columns has a new life! Some young people I met at Epoetry 2001 in Buffalo this Spring seem to see me as a kind of "hero" who has "figured out how to get people to read his poems hiding them in pictures." They have the idea that there is a way to "trick" people into reading their poems. Of course as a mere old fashioned artist I just want to create beautiful visual poems, paint with fonts, sculpture with lines, and frankly until 2 years ago, I never believed anyone would ever even read them! I believe that one thing that gives beauty and life to my poems is that they are surrounded by air. The Chinese idea of blank negative space as "air" as important as the object of the poem. The poem is like the sensations we have of our bodies, thoughts, feelings. The blank space is the air we live in, inhale, exhale, and hold. So life is not crammed into a box- It is wide open. It changes. It moves. It is as Freud said of the elements of the mind, as "dynamic as the acrobats in a circus who are always taking each others place." As water in a stream. As air in the lungs. As happy families- Always changing. Always the same." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates

  • Creation: 2001

Creator

Extent

0 See container summary (1 poster (ink jet printed)) ; 122 x 71 cm

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Physical Location

North flat drawer

Custodial History

The Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, gift of Ruth and Marvin A. Sackner and the Sackner Family Partnership.

General

Published: Berkeley, California : David Daniels. Signed by: David Daniels 9/17/2001 (l.r.). Inscription: For Ruth & Marvin Sackner. Nationality of creator: American. General: About 10 total copies. 2 number copy. General: Added by: MARVIN; updated by: RED.

Repository Details

Part of the The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry Repository

Contact:
125 W. Washington St.
Main Library
Iowa City Iowa 52242 United States
319-335-5921