"The Pork Roll Sub-Index" by Allan Bealy & De Villo Sloan (New York, USA)
(Collab foundation made June 2017; completed August 27, 2025)
(Image by De Villo Sloan)
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Monday, August 25, 2025
Asemic Front 2 Review: Ed Sanders & The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn (Woodstock, New York, August 23)
The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn (Woodstock, New York)
(August 23, 2025) (Image by Daniel E. Stetson)
The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn, August 23, 2025
Review by De Villo Sloan
“The Fugs will NEVER be inducted into the RocknRoll Hall of Fame.”
- Jann Wenner (according to Ed Sanders)
My trusted confidant and advisor Dan Stetson and I went “on
the road” to attend The Fugs concert on Saturday, August 23, at Byrdcliffe Barn
in Woodstock, New York, that was part of their celebration of the 60th
anniversary year of The Fug’s first concert.
Byrdcliffe Barn is a wonderful venue (and Woodstock is a
great artist’s community). Long ago, I heard Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky,
Ed Sanders, Andy Clausen and others give a concert/reading at Byrdcliffe that included songs
from Ginsberg’s William Blake album.
A professor of mine – Albert Glover – was a student of Charles
Olson’s and spent much of his time on a massive project called The
Curriculum of the Soul. Ed Sanders was a contributor to the
project. Through Al, I gained an appreciation of Sanders’ literary
contributions that were amplified in grad school and beyond. I also heard Ed
Sanders deliver the Charles Olson Memorial Lecture at S.U.N.Y. in the eighties.
Ed Sanders founded the band in 1964, and his performance at the age of 86, I believe, puts him on equal footing with Dylan as a contemporary performer pushing boundaries.
Steve Taylor, on vocals and guitar, joined the band in 1984. Scott Petito on bass and keyboards and Coby Batty on drums and vocals are also longtime Fugs members.
The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn (Woodstock, New York)
(August 23, 2025) (Image by Daniel E. Stetson)
Taylor, Petito and Batty commanded an array of styles ranging
from a spacey, experimental jam to a down-on-the-Delta searing, swampy bass and
guitar solo. Orphic Sanders stood between them singing and reciting. They
matched any heavy metal shredders today. Even drone music slipped in, and some great acoustic guitar playing identified the Fug's ties to the folk music scene of the early sixties.
The Fugs played well-known favorites such as “Slum Goddess” and
“Kill for Peace.” But for me the highlight was the classic Fugs
songs that required audience participation: “River of Shit” was an impassioned
group effort. The Fugs’ exorcism song was transcendental.
The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn (Woodstock, New York)
(August 23, 2025) (Image by Daniel E. Stetson)
The Fugs’ “Exorcism of the White House” in 2017 found the
band engaged in political protest against the first Trump administration. The basic concept originated in 1968 when Sanders, Allen
Ginsberg and others sought to levitate the Pentagon (Washington, DC) in an effort to end the
Vietnam War, recounted in Norman Mailer’s Armies of the Night. The
audience and The Fugs at Byrdcliffe joined voices with an urgent message:
“We call upon the Spirits of Eternity
to raise the White House
from its foundations
spin it around
& cleanse it of Evil & Malevolent Demons…
“Out Demons, out!
Out Demons, out!
Out, Demons, out!
Out, Demons, out!
Out, Demons, out!”
Ed Sanders invoked two poetic
figures who contributed to the band: Tuli Kupferberg (who was mythologized in
the Brooklyn Bridge stanza of Howl) and Allen Ginsberg himself. Along
with memories of Tuli and his best-known songs, The Fugs played a new
Kupferberg composition selected from a large collection of cassette tapes Tuli
sent to Sanders.
They also played a song written
in honor of Harry Smith who nursed The Fugs through early recording sessions.
Tuli Kupferberg and Allen Ginsberg were welcome spirit presences with us at
Byrdcliffe.
I went to the concert mostly due
to my admiration for Ed Sanders as a literary figure, and I was not
disappointed. He used spoken word quotes from Shakespeare (“Tomorrow, tomorrow
and tomorrow”), Heraclitus, Decadent poet Algernon Charles Swineburne as well
as a wonderful rendition of Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” set to music.
Sanders spoke of his admiration
for Allen Ginsberg (“I thought he was a genius”) and recounted Ginsberg’s
report of having a vision of William Blake in the late nineteen forties.
Sanders and Taylor have written their own version of “Ah! Sunflower” and shared
the piece with the audience. With no disrespect intended, I far preferred The
Fugs’ adaptation of Blake compared to Allen Ginsberg’s.
Steven Taylor collaborates on songwriting with Sanders and has collaborated with literary figures including Ginsberg, Kenward Elmslie and Anne Waldman.
As Ed Sanders performed “Ah! Sunflower” he seemed to channel Allen’s gestures as he had once passionately performed the song. For a moment in the blazing lights, it seemed to me Sanders became Allen Ginsberg carrying Blake's vision from the cosmos, but I am sure that was just a subjective reaction.
The Fugs had excellent, tight sound and great playing. They created a remarkable montage of music, spoken word and visual image with much audience participation.
- - De Villo Sloan
Elbridge,
New York, USA
August
25, 2025
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Asemic Front 2 Gallery: Eco-Asemics & Other Recent Asemic Art by Brigitte Tye (Seengen, Switzerland)
"Asemic Kisses" by Brigitte Tye (Seengen, Switzerland) (lip stick, parallel pens
& golden pen on paper) (August 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)
"Eco-asemics (1)" by Brigitte Tye (found forest material) (August 2025)
(Image courtesy of the artist)
"Eco-asemics (2)" by Brigitte Tye (found forest material) (August 2025)
(Image courtesy of the artist)
"The Language of Flowers" by Brigitte Tye (July 2025)
(Image courtesy of the artist)
"Depending on the Light" by Brigitte Tye (July 2025)
(Image courtesy of the artist)
"Dancing the Pen" (parallel pen & ink on paper) by Brigitte Tye
(August 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)
"Somebody is watching you... unplanned" " by Brigitte Tye
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)
Friday, August 8, 2025
AF2 Gallery: "The Seagull's Alphabet" & Other Recent Eco-Asemics & Object Poems by Geof Huth (New York City)
"The Seagull's Alphabet" by Geof Huth (New York City) (August 2025)
(Image courtesy of the poet)
"The Seagull's Alphabet" & Other Recent Eco-Asemics
& Object Poems by Geof Huth
by De Villo Sloan
These days writing about esoteric abstractions such as metasmics and patasemics makes it easy for me to forget my first serious asemic theory to receive attention in our broader community was my writing about eco-asemics:
When Peter Schwenger was doing the research for his book Asemic: The Art of Writing (2019), he contacted me about some of my blog posts where Nancy Bell Scott (Maine, USA) and I had traded tree bark as mail art and called it asemic. Both she and I had been involved in some extensive online discussions about identifying asemic symbols in nature as well as in found material generated by humans.
I deeply appreciate that Peter Schwenger found Nancy and I interesting and - in turn - that we could help him frame his thinking for what has become a classic book. When Nancy and I were trading Birch bark, I know we weren't thinking too seriously about conceptual art or the roots of language: (But the asemic seed was planted.) We were, honestly, having some fun and enjoying the creative freedom mail art allows. Nancy Bell Scott is a singular talent who significantly contributed to the growth of the asemic movement.
Thus, I always try to represent eco-asemic visual poets on the blog. I have tremendous admiration for the poets who find their true visions in nature. Veteran visual poet Geof Huth is - as far as I'm concerned along with many other AF2 readers - doing spectacular work with eco-asemics, object poetry and the exciting synthesis taking place between the two.
- De Villo Sloan
Elbridge, New York, USA
August 8, 2025
"Shull 451: and may change and alter the same" by Geof Huth
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
"The See-E" by Geof Huth (July 2025)
(Image courtesy of the poet)
"Woud 49: AT a/ti" by Geof Huth (July 2025)
(Image courtesy of the poet)
"Untitled" by Geof Huth (July 2025)
(Image courtesy of the poet)
"Shull 456: fhall be velted in" by Geof Huth (August 2025)
(Image courtesy of the poet)
"perfon, who fhall throw any carcafe" by Geof Huth
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
De Villo Sloan is a concrete poet living in Upstate, New York. He writes frequently about postavant art & culture. He is director of the Winifred & De Villo Sloan, Jr., Charitable Fund.
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Machine L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E: Danny Snelson "Reconstitutes" Charles Bernstein's Classic Avant Texts
Cover of Danny Snelson's project to "reconstitute" Charles Bernstein's
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E (May 2023/25)
Danny Snelson is involved in a project, L≠A≠N≠G≠U≠A≠G≠E, using artificial intelligence to "reconstitute" the original magazine published by the Language poets (1978-82) "so that machines might appreciate this 'poetics'". Visit the project here:
https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/the-little-database/resource/snelson-9781452973456-r006
Deepest thanks to Christian Bok who originally shared this information at X.
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Dispatches from the Metasemic Hyperreal: New Work by EgiDia Elle (Italy), Miekal And (USA), Mike Miskowski (USA), Kristen Szumyn (Australia)
"Mirage from the past" by EgiDia Elle (Turin, Italy)
(August 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)
(Make sure to click to enlarge)
(Wisconsin, USA) (July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
Violet storms wail electric dirge across fields
Shattered echoes drift beneath silent moon’s gaze
Fractured hearts pulse incandescent through ashen air
Ghost-winds murmur lost lullabies on the wind
Time’s shards float down ruins of ancient spires
Night’s ember-rain kindles whispers of tomorrow
Dawn carves its cry across a weary sky
Square 2
Deep oceans tremble under impossible ice
Salt-veins shiver where no sunlight ever falls
Submerged runes uncoil in drowned cathedral halls
Currents carry songs of drowned constellations
Coral-veils sway to a phantom’s lullaby
Breathless pearls drift toward the crushing dark
Pressure blooms crystal roses in the deep
Square 3
Scarlet rivers flow backward through ragged bones
Blood-tide blossoms in the marrow of time
Veins of flame map a geography of grief
Heart-cinders flicker on the brink of void
Each pulse erupts with the roar of stars
Ash and ember intertwine in silent dance
All endings blossom into new beginnings
Square 4
Wind-carved mountains hum with ancient memory
Stone-voices echo in the hollow of days
Broken peaks cradle vaults of buried stars
Sun-dust settles on the crest of legends
Roots of granite twist toward hidden worth
Sky-fissures bleed light into timeless dark
Pilgrims of dust kneel before stone-gods
Square 5
Neon flowers bloom on metal-waste horizons
Circuit-vines pulse with the hum of ghosts
Synthetic petals slow-dance in acid rain
Iron-breezes carry the scent of ozone
Rust-spores drift among electric gardens
Digital moths flicker in the cobalt night
Memory-seeds sprout in coded cathedrals
Square 6
Clock-ciphers spin within the mind’s deep vault
Ticking shadows stretch across thought’s expanse
Pendulums chant in the language of hours
Seconds fracture into galaxies of cost
Silent gears grind out stories of regret
Time-ghosts wander halls of vanished chance
Tomorrow stands at the threshold of now
Square 7
Ember-wings glimmer atop collapsed spires
Phoenix-ashes drift through the ashen air
Renewal’s heartbeat stirs beneath cold dust
Flame-seeds sleep in the cavern of stone
Hope’s spark waits in the hollow of night
Dawn’s breath coaxes new life from ruin
Every death carries the seed of dawn
Square 8
Celestial gardens bloom on cratered plains
Starlight-dew drips from the bones of comets
Moon-vines curl around forgotten temples
Meteor-petals scatter over endless night
Galactic winds hum hymns of creation
Universe-roots delve through the womb of dark
Life awakens in the hush between stars
- Miekal And (July 2025)
From PANSEMIC TEXTSTORM by Miekal And (Wisconsin, USA )
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
"Disguised agenda" by Mike Miskowski (Arizona, USA )
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
(July 2025) (Image courtesy of the poet)
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