Asemic Front 2 Review: Toward Asemic Minimalism: "Anthology of one letter poems" edited by Piotr Szreniawski

 

Antologia wierzy jednoliterowych (Anthology of one letter poems)

Piotr Szreniawski, Editor

wydawnietwo neopoemiksowe

Lublin 2021  124 pages

Free e-book (link provided)

by De Villo Sloan

Piotr Szreniawski has given us an extraordinary gift with the publication of Antologia wierzy jednoliterowych (Anthology of one letter poems), an e-book he edited, assembled and now makes available around the globe. You can "cut to the chase" easily with a click below, save the book as a resource & explore the world of monopoeticz at your leisure (and without fee):

http://skr.comicgenesis.com/jednoliterowe.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3BejzN_MCGI6AjRcuJVAepC1qG990vr8MOZixaAaRqv8xV1xQXCBDYPyE

For documentation purposes, however, here is a list of anthology contributors: Aid, Rosaire Appel, Sacha Archer, Volodymyr Bilyk, Andrew Brenza, Roland Dill, Tim Gaze, Geof Huth, Satu Kaikonen, Piotr Kasperowicz, David Kjellin, Karri Kokko, Stephen Nelson, Michael Orr (Orzechowski), Dave Read, Aziza Ibragimova Mystic Rose,  Denis Smith, Sven Staelens and Andrew Topel. 

By Andrew Topel from Anthology of one letter poems (2021)

The one letter poem was in ascendency during the 20th century, even if embraced cautiously as a prank, curiosity and/or avant garde provocation. The tensions then - consider Aram Saroyan - mostly concerned the conceptual viability of a one word poem. Sub-word fragmentation appeared among more marginal constituencies, such as sound and concrete poetry.

Szreniawski has chosen some work within the historical continuum. He also reveals just how far contemporary visual poets have departed from their roots to transform the single sign poem.  The Anthology of one word poems is an indicator this form is likely to have a continued ascendency and evolution in the post-literate 21st century.

In his announcement of the anthology's release, Geof Huth - a minimalist visual poet widely acclaimed - discussed the state of the form in helpful terms: "Today, Piotr Szreniawski released Anthology of one letter poems, a small but also rich anthology of two kinds of visual poems: 1. what I call invented choerms and 2. poems that repeat the same letter in a single poem. This description of mine makes the anthology seem boring, yet it is a visual delight. Plenty of pieces by me and other better visual poets appear herein, so take a look for a brief but reverberating state of bliss."

By Geof Huth from Anthology of one letter poems (2021)

The anthology achieves closure with especially powerful sequences. Sections by Geof Huth and Sacha Archer are stellar examples. Rosaire Appel's stamp series radiates gentle energy and intimate tonal qualities that only she seems capable of attaining; these are especially fine examples. In terms of linear reading, I find the edition builds momentum as it moves forward; and it took me several reads to pinpoint the ending sequences I wanted to study closely.  

I find I am drawn to the poems that seem to be part of a discernible series arranged thoughtfully by the poet and/or editor (or any sequence with structural characteristics). Perhaps the latent power of the minimalist poem is not in its apparent isolation and self-sufficiency but in its unique variability when placed in different contexts. 

The one letter poem has evolved, from what I see, mostly through the application of postavant tropes, such as performance, conceptual writing, art actions, object poems, found material, etc. Three decades of visual poetry innovations have contributed to healthy growth in the one letter genre. The merging of image-text that we see in visual poetics has altered the field for minimalism.

Especially from the AF2 perspective I also note the considerable impact the asemic writing movement has had on the one letter poem, if one sees the anthology as representative, and I do. The asemicists, or visual poets making a foray into these waters, have created calligraphic, collaged and concrete "glyphs."

Those practicing "deconstructive asemics" have produced an astonishing array of pulverized non symbols, recombined language fragments, cracked prosody debris that are expanding the idea of the one letter poem. Indulge me, please, as I coin more asemic jargon and suggest some of the most interesting one letter pieces today compose using "sub-semic particles."

The anthology of one letter poems is a must-have, must-read look into the state of a fascinating poetic genre positioned for a bright future.

- De Villo Sloan