ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

Scope and Contents

Cooper prints a brief paragraph in the center of a page about notions dealing with the alphabet, words, punctuations, and phonemes on the center of the left side of the page in a calligraphic typeface. For example, "Words led back to their origins, which is the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, so gifted with infinity that they will finally consecrate language. Everything is caught up in their endless variations and then rises out of them in the form of principle. Thus typography becomes a rite." This same paragraph is printed on the facing right side page but in a bolder typeface and with irregular spacing between the lines of the text. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents In this book, Ball indicates the following. "The smallest unit in this poem-sequence is a three-letter combination or "word" employing a central vowel and two different consonants. There are five words per line incorporating each of the five vowels. All the words in a section begin with the same consonant. There are 21 sections. All the words in a given line end with the same consonant. Each section has 20 lines because the consonant that begins each word in a section is not repeated at the ends of words within that section.The words in this poem are meant to be read aloud, line by line. Pronunciation is left to the reader. Readers will find various words and lines induce surprise or laughter because of the sounds involved and because of meanings and suggested meanings.While one reads, one may become uncertain about which words are in dictionaries or in use and which are not. Some words and non-words will sound like real words that have other spellings. Many non-words look and...