1. Fruit is good for you.
2. When you´re struggling with something, look at it from a different perspective.
3. Completion is important.
4. If you´re going to suck at something, commit to the suckage.
5. Avoid bombs.
6. That which is critical is often random.
7. When you can freeze the frenzy, you will find success.
8. The freeze banana slows us down so that we may accomplish more.
9. The frenzy banana shows us chaos is best when short-lived.
10. One must accept the bananas one is given.

"I must keep it outside myself and simultaniously make it unfamiliar."

Close-reading of non-existing texts is a political act, by Jörgen Gassilewski

Almost-sleepless in Saari

I have begun my two month artist-in-residence -stay at the Saari Manor in Mietoinen on Tuesday 1st of September. Hopefully by the end of this time I will have gotten some good writing done. So far very good. Except sleeping... not so good. Maybe it will change, hopefully, keeping fingers crossed.

Näitä vilkuilin tänään.

http://ululate.blogspot.com/2009/08/disjunction-is-not-dead.html

http://exoskeleton-johannes.blogspot.com/2009/08/american-hybrid-review.html

No frames

Recorded live at Lakehurst, New Jersey, June 3, 1970
Recorded live at Big Sur Festival 1969
Recorded live at Lakehurst, New Jersey, June 3, 1970
Unreleased demos from 1965
From 1967 Gold Star Acetate
Unreleased demos from 1966
With the Squires 1963
Live at Monterey Pop Festival 1967
Recorded live at Big Sur Festival 1969

What is political poetry, Kent?

Kävin tänään täällä:

THE TUNNEL

I was coming back to Sarajevo the only way you could: through the tunnel. Water seeped in everywhere through the narrow passageway; the mud made it even harder to get through. Since there wasn’t enough air, I became so exhausted that I had to to stop halfway. I was ready to lay down and die right where I was till I found a spot that was a little wider, made to put aside the dead, so the living could pass. I stayed right there, for hours, underground, and thought of Radovan.

(From Sarajevo Blues, by Semezdin Mehmedinović)

The New Tuli&Savu Is Out. It Is About Poetry. Go Check It Out At The New Site Of The Mag:

http://tulijasavunihil.wordpress.com/

It Is In Finnish. Maybe You Would Like To Start Learning It? It Is Not An Indo-European Language. It Is A Finno-Ugric Language. It Will Make You See The World In Another Way. Interested? Go For It!

A letter from "Will the Humanities Save Us?"

I ran into this interesting discussion provoked by Stanley Fish's column in which he takes up and discusses an argument by Anthony Kronman in his book Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. The main question seems to be how to argue for the meaning of the humanities without basing your argument on some kind of utility. Citation from Fish, who is citing Kronman:

"[...] Kronman is not so much mounting a defense of the humanities as he is mounting an attack on everything else. Other spokespersons for the humanities argue for their utility by connecting them (in largely unconvincing ways) to the goals of science, technology and the building of careers. Kronman, however, identifies science, technology and careerism as impediments to living a life with meaning. The real enemies, he declares, are “the careerism that distracts from life as a whole” and “the blind acceptance of science and technology that disguise and deny our human condition.” These false idols, he says, block the way to understanding. We must turn to the humanities if we are to “meet the need for meaning in an age of vast but pointless powers,” for only the humanities can help us recover the urgency of “the question of what living is for."

Fish does not agree with this idea of secular humanism where the examples of action and thoughts presented in the classic works of literature, history, philosophy etc. are believed to have an enobling effect on the reader, because they create a desire to emulate them. Here's how Fish argues his point:

"It’s a pretty idea, but there is no evidence to support it and a lot of evidence against it. If it were true, the most generous, patient, good-hearted and honest people on earth would be the members of literature and philosophy departments, who spend every waking hour with great books and great thoughts, and as someone who’s been there (for 45 years) I can tell you it just isn’t so. Teachers and students of literature and philosophy don’t learn how to be good and wise; they learn how to analyze literary effects and to distinguish between different accounts of the foundations of knowledge."

Fish concludes his column by stating that "the humanities are their own good" and that they cannot or should not be justified by any outside perspective. Humanities for humanities sake, then.

What puzzles me is the idea that the enobling effect of humanism is based on emulating. Only on emulating? This seems to be too simplisistic a view on how for example the literary works "work", effect the reader.

So Fish seems convincing in his arguments, but I get a feeling that there is something "fishy" here. To use the teachers and students in literary departments as examples of why the premise of emulation does not hold seems in some way too easy, almost stupid. But then of course Fish wants to make the distinction between religion, which "saves" us, and science which educates us and helps us to develop certain skills, like rhetorical analysis.

But I cannot - at least not yet - agree with Fish that the only possible argument for the meaning of the humanities is "art for art's sake". But what then? It is true that Kronman's idea is well, just idealistic. But but but... I have to admit to thinking that he is not totally of the track, either.

(Some blogposts responding to Fish's column are also worth reading.)

Postcard from Margaret Atwood

"At the end of last July, I travelled north to participate in Somebody's Daughter, a two-week camp for Inuit women that takes place in Nunavut, in the eastern Canadian Arctic. This project blends sewing, healing and writing in an unusual but very specific way." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020901725.html

Postcard from home

I have come home to Alppila, and there´s snow on the roofs of Viipurinkatu. I did come home already a week ago but have avoided many things like e-mails, sms-messages, blogging, reading the newspaper first thing in the morning, timetables, other people's timetables, facebook. Why, because so easily one can be led through a day by something else than something in yourself. So if I have been slow in responding or if I have ignored you completely, don't be offended. Shouldn't one have the right to refuse communication and interaction, isn't that a part of the deal anyway.

This has been a busy week, but now I'm on the better side of it since the long day of yesterday is over and the weekend is almost here. We had a fabulous day with Poetics Conference during the day and the Sound poetry -performances at the Library 10 at the evening - where Marko did a really excellent reading of Martin's work. Hälsningar till Martin at his Kornkammer! And hälsningar till Marko D at Nurotus - we were the last men standing:-)

Tomorrow I will be at the Rikhardstreet's library reading my work at 20.30. And after that I believe, at the Opera's out-door-theater where a lot of poetry is happening.

"TAITEIDEN YÖN RUNOTUSINA perjantaina 24.8.2007 klo 19.00 - 22.00 Kaksitoista runoilijaa lukee illan pimetessä runojaan Rikhardinkadun kirjastossa, Rikhardinkatu 3, 00130 Helsinki klo 19.00 Leena Laulajainen klo 19.15 Mikaela Sundström klo 19.30 Helena Sinervo klo 19.45 Bo Carpelan klo 20.00 Sinikka Vuola klo 20.15 Rakel Liehu klo 20.30 Miia Toivio klo 20.45 Juha Vakkuri klo 21.00 Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen klo 21.15 Henriikka Tavi klo 21.30 Olli Heikkonen klo 21.45 Jouni Inkala."

Voicing someone else's poems

In Nokturno's series "In Another's Voice" I read six wonderful poems from Mark Young's "Series Magritte". This was my first time reading to a microphone without being in front of an immediate audience; and these readings are the first and only takes. Next time I'll know to turn down the volume a little bit and work more with the subtler tones. Another thing I noticed is that it was more pleasant to read someone else's poems than your own, in this way, by yourself, to an audience not yet present.

I also read this poem by e. e. cummings. My reading is dedicated and most meaningful to Brad Andrew Davis, who at this moment is living either in the States or in Argentina.

"Yet after all, thats the way to write; and if I had time to prove it, the truth of one's sensations is not in the fact, but in the reverberation. When I have read three lines, I re-make them entirely; if they're prose, and not poetry; and it is this which is the truth." (Virginia Woolf in a letter to Vita Sackville-West, on January, probably the 9th, in 1929.)

The Language

Locate I
love you some-
where in

teeth and
eyes, bite
it but

take care not
to hurt, you
want so

much so
little. Words
say everything.

I
love you
again,

then what
is emptiness
for. To

fill, fill.
I heard words
and words full

of holes
aching. Speech
is a mouth.



Five Robert Creeley poems you’ve got to know about.
by Charles Bernstein.

Harry Salmenniemi new chief-editor for Tuli&Savu

The new shief-editor for the poetry magazine Tuli&Savu, starting from issue 2/2007, is Harry Salmenniemi (b. 1983), a poet and a student at the Helsinki University. Other members of the staff include Henriikka Tavi, Sirpa Kyyrönen and Mikael Brygger.

I left my post as chief-editor last August, and Teemu Manninen, who picked up the work, will still edit a couple of issues before leaving the chief-editorship to Salmenniemi.

Read more info (in finnish) from the publishers pages at www.nihil.fi.

And don´t miss the new editors´call for new writers to join in and submit their writing to Tuli&Savu, at Tuli&Savu Net.

For those precious ears

You can now listen to my poem "Omakuva 1" read by Mark Young at Nokturno´s new series "In Another´s Voice". I really like the concept of the series - it´s just one of the good things happening in Nokturno nowadays. Marko is doing a great job:-)!

Once more - vielä kerran!

Visual Poetry, Text Art, Sound Art and Poetry
TekstiKonst - TextTaide in Helsinki, November 22, 2005

Galleria Huuto, the Swedish poetry magazine OEI and the Finnish poetry magazine Tuli&Savu present TekstiKonst-TextTaide; a two-part poetry-art event, Tuesday, November 22nd.

TekstiKonst 1 opens Tuesday, November 22nd, at 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm at Galleria Huuto (Laivurinkatu 43) with a vernissage of visual and conceptual poetry by Jörgen Gassilewski and Anna Hallberg from Sweden, and Cia Rinne, from Finland.

TekstiKonst 2 is an event at Dubrovnik Lounge&Lobby (Eerikinkatu 11) from 7:00 pm - 2:00 am with readings by 30 poets from Sweden and Finland. During the breaks there will be sound art performances by Captain Heroin and Twisted Krister.

The reading features the following poets and artists from Sweden: Ida Börjel, Lars Carlsson, Helena Eriksson, Jörgen Gassilewski, Anna Hallberg, Johannes Heldén, Martin Högström, Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson and Fredrik Nyberg.

The reading features the following poets and artists from Finland: Robert Alftán, Ralf Andtbacka, Marina Ciglar, Agneta Enckell, Karin Huber, Jonimatti Joutsijärvi, Leevi Lehto, Jan Olov Mallander, Teemu Manninen, Peter Mickwitz, Reetta Niemelä, Jyrki Pellinen, Cia Rinne, Oscar Rossi, Aki Salmela, Eino Santanen, Miia Toivio, Juhana Vähänen, and Heidi von Wright.

Internet-poet and composer Jukka-Pekka Kervinen has made the poster for the event.

This project is connected to a joint pedagogical project focused on language, identity and textual art, in which the participating institutions are the Finland-Swedish Polytechnic Arcada, University of Art and Design Helsinki, and Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia.

Thank you:
Helsinki city
Swedish Culture Foundation
Sleipnir/Nifca
Arcada/UIAH/Stadia
Cultural Foundation of Uusimaa

Information:
Galleria Huuto, Marina Ciglar 040-54 14 369, marinaciglar@surfeu.fi
Tuli&Savu, editor-in-chief Miia Toivio 040-569 5553, miia.toivio@helsinki.fi
OEI, editor Jonas (J) Magnusson 070-4276443, jjm@oei.nu
OEI, correspondent Fredrik Hertzberg, 041-5015334, Fredrik.Hertzberg@sls.fi

Some information about the actors in charge

Galleria Huuto is a gallery run by artists. It was founded in 2002 by the Mehiläispesä / Bikupan organization, with some 60 members. One of the gallery's most important functions is to offer young, non-established artists a possibility to display their art outside of the commercial circle of art galleries in Helsinki. This year, the gallery has expanded and utilizes two locations, one on Viiskulma/Femkanten and the other on Uudenmaankatu/Nylandsgatan. The ongoing exhibitions provide many artists a possibility to communicate with their audience. Galleria Huuto also produces joint ventures, collaborations (the first artist's book 2005) and invites other actors - as in the present case.

OEI is a literary magazine focused on poetry, aesthetics and theory, based in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The first issue appeared in 1999. Having initially investigated the relations and differentials between Canadian pataphysics and visual poetry, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E and alternative orthography, electronic poetry and idiocy, cut-up, détournement, sampling, ready made and post production, OEI is presently moving towards sound poetry, biosemiotics, nonsense and virus production.

Tuli&Savu is the only Finnish literary magazine focusing exclusively on poetry. Founded in 1994, it is issued quarterly. Its mission is to maintain a professional discussion open to innovative perspectives on the meaning and possibilities of poetry. Tuli&Savu is published by the poetry organization Nihil Interit (www.nihil.fi) in collaboration with students from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, and the printing-house Art-Print (www.artprint.fi).Kohina is a literary club founded in 2004. It is run by three literary organizations (Elävien runoilijoiden klubi/Nuoren Voiman Liitto, the poetry organization Nihil Interit and the literary magazine Lumooja). Its mission is to create a network between the arts.

TuTurku!

I have been absent from here and elsewhere as well since I´ve been writing my presentation for Friday´s seminar on poetry in Turku (where this week is The Poetry Week). I should have decided a topic for my "thing" a long time ago, but but but... the topic is still missing since the presentation is still "under construction" and I find it difficult to give it a name before it's completely finished. I will be talking about poethics, since the guiding theme of the seminar is "Omat tunnot" which would translate both to "your own feelings/senses" or "consciences". The other main speaker is the poet Jyrki Kiiskinen, who will be talking about "Why I did not become a Language-poet?" which is interesting since our poetry magazine and some people around it could be thought of as having something to do with L-poetry, as our Language-issue a few years back shows. Hopefully Jyrki's talk will give new wings to the issue of Language-poetry because the discussion around it sure needs some spicying up. Like so many discussions around poetry and poetics, the language-poetry-discussion also has been built more on prejudices than real knowledge about the original movement.
I have to say that I am quite nervous about Friday... so keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well:-)
What I´m really really excited about is the poetry reading at Kerttu on Friday evening - I am very happy to get to read my poems in public because it´s been a long time since the last time and I have some good pieces I really wish to read.
But now, back to work...

Don´t miss this: swedish&finnish vispo&po in November in Helsinki

I´ve forgotten about my other eye for some time now so it´s about time to open it up: what would be a better issue to talk about than the upcoming TekstiKonst-TextTaide happening in November here in Helsinki. I just met with the visual/digital poet/publisher Jukka-Pekka Kervinen for the first time, he will be designing the poster/visual poetry piece for the event which is going to take place on Tuesday 22nd of November, both at Galleria Huuto and Bar Dubrovnik. At Galleria Huuto an exhibition of textkonst by the swedish poets Anna Hallberg and Jörgen Gassilewski and by the finnish poet Cia Rinne has its opening-avajaiset-vernissage during the day. And the fun doesn´t stop there, because in the evening there´s going to be a massive smörgåsbord of swedish, finnish-swedish and finnish poetry served at Bar Dubrovnik, under the name of Kohina-klubi. Up to THIRTY poets are going to step on stage and perform/read their work.
These events are jointly organized by the groundreaking poetry magazine OEI from Sweden, the artist-run Galleria Huuto from Helsinki, and by our own dear poetry magazine Tuli&Savu (plus the usual organizations behind Kohina, that is Elävien runoilijoiden klubi and Lumooja-kirjallisuuslehti). So here´s a sneak preview for you; the following weeks we`ll be informing more about these events.

Mitä haluaisin tajuta ja mitä olisi tuotava suomen kieleen osa 1. Gertrud Steinin "Susie Asado"

Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.
____Susie Asado.
Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.
____Susie Asado.
Susie Asado which is a told tray sure.
A lean on the shoe this means slips slips hers.
When the ancient light grey is clean it is yellow, it is a silver seller.
This is a please this is a please there are the saids to jelly. These are
the wets these say the sets to leave a crown to Incy.
Incy is short for incubus.
A pot. A pot is a beginning of a rare bit of threes. Trees tremble, the
old vats are in bobbles, bobbles which shade and shove and render clean,
render clean must.
___Drink pups.
Drink pups drink pups lease a sash hold, see it shine and a bobolink
has pins. It shows a nail.
What is a nail. A nail in unison.
Sweet sweet sweet sweet sweet tea.