Asemic Front 2 Gallery: Analog Collage (Cut-Up Asemic Vispo) by Anki Van Dijk (Netherlands)

 

"Analog Collage 3" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk 

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (January 2026) (16 x 12 cm)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Analog Collage 1" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (January 2026) (23 x 16 cm)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Analog Collage 2" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (January 2026) (13 x 13 cm)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Analog Collage 4" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (January 2026) (13 x 13 cm)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

"Analog Collage 5" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (January 2026) (12 x 20 cm)

(Image courtesy of the artist)

Analog Collage 6" (cut-up asemic vispo) by Anki Van Dijk

(Barrle-Nassau, Netherlands) (2014) (13 x 13) 

(Image courtesy of Anna Klos)

Asemic Front 2 Top Ten Faves of 2025

From "decompositions" by Jim Leftwich (2004) 

(AF2 Archive)

1. "The State of Asemia 2025 according to Jim Leftwich" Published @ AF2 January 30, 2025 (Jim's last post on AF2 - prophetic)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-state-of-asemia-2025-according.html

"untitled" by Rosaire Appel (New York City) (January 2025)

 (Image courtesy of the artist)

2. "AF2 gallery: Recent asemics and vispo by Rosaire Appel (New York City)" (Published @ AF2 February 3, 2025) 

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/02/af2-gallery-recent-asemics-visual.html

From WRITTEN IN The Zero One by Hannah Weiner. 

Published by Pete Spence at Post-Neo 

(original 1985) (AF2 Archive)

3. "AF2 commentary: Hannah Weiner at the intersection of asemic writing and poetry." (A re-assessment of WRITTEN IN The Zero One by Hannah Weiner published by Pete Spence at Post-Neo in Australia.)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/05/af2-commentary-hannah-weiner-at.html

Collaboration by Sarah Ridgely (USA) and Christian Bok 

(Canada) (June 2025) (Image courtesy of the artists) 

4. "Intermedia collaboration by Sarah Ridgely (USA) and Christian Bok (Canada): Algorithmically generated asemics in 'Fifty Days of Illium' [performed in UK]." Published @ AF2 June 2025.

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/06/intermedia-collaboration-by-sarah.html

From PANSEMIC TEXTSTORM by Miekal And (USA) 

(2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

5. "AI-semics and Human creativity: Selections from PANSEMIC TEXTSTORM by Miekal And (USA)" (Published @ AF2 September 2025)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/09/ai-semics-human-creativity-selections.html

"Eco-asemics (2) (found forest material)" by Brigitte Tye 

(Seengen, Switzerland) (August 2025) 

(Image courtesy of the artist)

6 "Eco-asemics & other recent asemic art by Brigitte Tye" (Published @ AF2 August 16, 2025)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/08/asemic-front-2-gallery-eco-asemics.html

                               

                               "The high pressure of humanity" by Geof Huth 

                                   (March 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

7 "Asemantic (asemic) calligraphy by Geof Huth (North Carolina, USA)" (Published @AF2 March 31, 2025)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/03/asemantic-asemic-calligraphy-by-geof.html

Cover of Visual Poetry by John McConnochie 

(Queensland, Australia) (Pete Spence's BlackHill Pres) 

(2025) (AF2 Archive)

8 "AF2 review: Visual Poetry by John McConnochie (Australia) (BlackHill Press)" 

(Published @ AF2 May 22, 2025)

Asemic Front 2: AF2 Review: "Visual Poetry" by John McConnochie (Australia) (BlackHill Press)

        

"Asemic writing [1]" by Monica Gorgoteanu (Romania)

 (2025) (Image courtesy 0f the artist)

9 "AF2 gallery: Selected asemic writing by Monica Gorgoteanu (Romania) (Published @ AF2 July 3, 2025)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/07/asemic-front-2-gallery-selected-asemic.html

Vispo by Nick Piombino (New York City) (2025)

 (Image courtesy of the artist)

10 'The Spectacle' and other recent vispo by Nick Piombino (New York City) (Published @ AF2 June 29, 2025)

https://asemicfront2.blogspot.com/2025/06/asemic-front-2-spectacle-other-recent.html

Two Homages: For Mary Ellen Solt by Joel Lipman (Ohio, USA) & for Paul Celan by Cheryl Penn (South Africa)

"Homage for Mary Ellen Solt" by Joel Lipman (Ohio, USA) 

(December 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

Earlier this week I was excited to see visual poets Joel Lipman and Cheryl Penn had both digitally published impressive homages to two important figures in poetry, experimental literature, and visual poetry: Joel created a piece for Mary Ellen Solt and Cheryl – always a fan of great European poetry – produced an impressive work honoring Paul Celan.

Mary Ellen Solt (1920-2007) earned a master’s degree in literature from the University of Iowa. She became one of the most important leaders of the global concrete poetry movement of the 1960s, co-editing the influential and classic anthology Concrete Poetry: A Worldview (Indiana University Press 1968).

Learn more about Mary Ellen Solt, including Concrete Poetry: A Worldview at Ubu:

https://www.ubu.com/papers/solt/index.html

Solt’s concrete poetry collections, Flowers in Concrete and Marriage: A Code Poem, are contemporary classics. Among many other honors, she received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to research William Carlos Williams.

"Amsel: for Celan" by Cheryl Penn (South Africa) 

(December 2025) (Image courtesy of the artist)

Paul Celan (1920-1970) was a German-speaking Romanian who became a French citizen in 1955. He survived a forced labor camp where he was sent by the Nazis. In the ruins of Post-World War II Europe, Celan became globally recognized for his literary and cultural innovations. Today, he is enjoying revived interest among visual poets.

I am not at all surprised that Cheryl Penn chose Celan for the powerful visual poem in this post. Cheryl’s work has always included text and cryptic experiments with language and the borderland between word and image.

The invocation of Solt and Celan by Lipman and Penn allude to a powerful and rich history in visual poetry and experimental writing that is in need of further exploration. 

- De Villo Sloan

December 18, 2025

Elbridge, New York, USA

AF2 Review - "eyesore" by Johannes S.H. Bjerg & Charlotte Jung (above/ground press, Canada)

 

Cover of eyesore by Johannes S.H. Bjerg (Denmark) 

& Charlotte Jung (Sweden) (October 2025) 

(above/ground press)

Review of eyesore

by Johannes S.H. Bjerg & Charlotte Jung

Ottawa: above/ground press 2025

isbn: 978-1-77460-421-2

20 pages; 8 X 7 inches; stapled

 

Review by De Villo Sloan

 

Stockholm-based poet and playwright Charlotte Jung and Danish writer and artist Johannes S.H. Bjerg have collaborated to produce what might easily prove to be this year’s best collection of visual poetry: Jung’s minimalist concrete poetry and Bjerg’s calligraphic, asemic neoglyphs. 

rob mclennan – above/ground press editor – again displays his talent for locating and publishing the best postavant art and lit in his burgeoning chapbook series.  eyesore is eminently collectible, and the thoughtful reader will want to revisit the book many times to explore its possibilities for interpretation.

Asemic neoglyph  in eyesore by Johannes S.H. Bjerg

Johannes S.H. Bjerg is known in the visual poetry community primarily for his calligraphy-based asemic texts. He eschews the faux abstract expressionist approach taken by many of his contemporaries in favor of a stark, black and white textuality that complements Charlotte Jung’s poetry perfectly. Bjerg's vision of asemics is similar to the vision of Jim Leftwich and Tim Gaze (1993).

Bjerg’s compositions in eyesore are imbued with complexity not fitting a strict minimalist definition. His cursive streams weave in, above, and below the boundaries of our shared language.

Yet each piece is a single entity, drawing from the concept of the neoglyph (a term coined by John R. McConnochie). In the context of eyesore, each of Bjerg’s pieces can be read as a single asemic poem in a dialog with Jung’s work. His asemic pieces, for me, are similar to the approach taken by John M. Bennett and Henry Michaux.

“meaning” by Charlotte Jung in eyesore

In my review of Charlotte Jung’s Collected (Timglaset 2023), I praised her concrete poetry, which I see sharing many traits with the work of Aram Saroyan. She works within the constraints of concrete poetry rooted in Modernity.

Jung also has a unique ability to present fluidity and subtle expression in a way that surpasses the work of previous generations. eyesore is another valuable addition to the growing body of Jung’s work.

rob mclennan has made an important contribution to vispo with the publication of this chapbook. The audience is presented with a unique opportunity to explore “new poetries” in the form of asemic writing and minimalist poetry in a lyric sequence. In eyesore, we see a glimpse of poetry’s future.

 

-        - De Villo Sloan

December 2, 2025

Elbridge, New York, USA

Toward A Spoken Word Asemics: "unonu klat" by Alan Sondheim (Rhode Island, USA)

"Outtake from 'Liquid Pleistocene'" by De Villo Sloan (October 2025)

      

unonu klat

                                              

                                                     by Alan Sondheim

 

    

ytfin swe[a-z] gnitset ole elgan nocnu stxet seton lp3la bup krowten

psil tsila gnitsil tse lp3la bup u:tnerru[a-z] 53zz krowten lp5la

oib ztivroh lia[a-z] lp5la 53zz d a sklat liam klatole liaM seton

ecapsemag codtensn d nacal lpgnolla liam lpla oibtstrohs

lpgnolla nacal d psil ecapsemag klatole liam sklat a d codtensn

ecapsemag lpla lia[a-z] ztivroh oib sklat gnitset a nocnu stxet

gnitsil ztivroh oib gnitset gnitsil tse seton tse ole gnitset

oib ytfin bup lp3la tse gnitset ole elgan swe[a-z] ytfin stxet nocnu

psil tsila ole elgan oibtstrohs lpla ytfin swe[a-z] krowten lp5la

psil tsila lpgnolla nacal lp3la bup krowten :tnerru[a-z] a lp5la

klatole liam lia[a-z] seton :tnerruC 53zz seton lpgnolla liam

klatole lp5la 53zz :tnerru[a-z] lpgnolla tsila psil lp5la krowten

codtensn d d codtensn ecapsemag lpla oibtstrohs nacal a nocnu

txet lpla oibtstrohs elgan ole gnitsil tse nocnu stxet ytfin

swe[a-z] sklat gnitset bup lp3la lp3la bup ztivroh oib gnitset stxet

nocnu tse gnitsil gnitset oib ztivroh lpla stxet nocnu a gnitset

sklat swe[a-z] ytfin codtensn d ole elgan oibtstrohs tsila lpgnolla

nacal oibtstrohs lpla ecapsemag liam lpgnolla seton d codtensn

krowten lp5la psil lp5la a :tnerru[a-z] :tnerruC 53zz lp5la klatole

lp5la krowten 53zz :tnerru[a-z] seton liaM liam klatole tsila psil

krowten bup lp3la nacal lpgnolla tsila psil elgan ole

 

network pub al3pl notes texts uncon nagle elo testing [a-z]ews nifty

al5pl network zz35 [a-z]urrent:u pub al3pl est listing alist lisp

notes [a-z]ail elotalk mail talks a d zz35 al5pl Mail horvitz bio

shortstbio alpl mail allongpl lacan d nsnetdoc gamespace

nsnetdoc d a talks mail elotalk gamespace lisp d lacan allongpl

texts uncon a testing talks bio horvitz [a-z]ail alpl gamespace

testing elo est notes est listing testing bio horvitz listing

uncon texts nifty [a-z]ews nagle elo testing est al3pl pub nifty bio

al5pl network [a-z]ews nifty alpl shortstbio nagle elo alist lisp

al5pl a [a-z]urrent: network pub al3pl lacan allongpl alist lisp

mail allongpl notes zz35 [a-z]urrent: notes mail mail elotalk

network al5pl lisp alist allongpl [a-z]urrent: zz35 al5pl elotalk

uncon a lacan shortstbio alpl gamespace nsnetdoc d d nsnetdoc

nifty texts uncon est listing elo nagle shortstbio alpl texts

texts testing bio horvitz pub al3pl al3pl pub testing talks [a-z]ews

testing a uncon texts alpl horvitz bio testing listing est uncon

allongpl alist shortstbio nagle elo d nsnetdoc nifty [a-z]ews talks

nsnetdoc d notes allongpl mail gamespace alpl shortstbio lacan

elotalk al5pl zz35 [a-z]urrent: Current: a al5pl lisp al5pl network

lisp alist elotalk mail [a-z]ail notes Current: zz35 network al5pl

elo nagle lisp alist allongpl lacan al3pl pub network

 

                                                                                     October 2025

"Outtake from 'Liquid Pleistocene'" by De Villo Sloan 

(October 2025)

AF2 Review: Poetry as Opiate of the Masses: "COPIUM" by Nada Gordon (above/ground press, Canada)

 

Cover of COPIUM by Nada Gordon (above/ground press) 

(Ottawa, Canada) (2025)

Poetry as Opiate of the Masses: A review of COPIUM by Nada Gordon (above/ground press, Canada)

 

COPIUM by Nada Gordon

Ottawa, Canada: above/ground press, August 2025

24 pages; stapled

 

Review by De Villo Sloan

 

Rob Mclennan has added another literary gem to the list of recent chapbooks issued by above/ground press in Ottawa, Canada, with the publication of COPIUM by Nada Gordon.

COPIUM is a single lyric poem composed of elegant tercets that encode opulent imagery like ornate beadwork. Through associations, wordplay, unexpected juxtapositions, and explorations of poetic discourse, Gordon creates a unique and engaging record of what in Modernity is known as “the stream of consciousness.”

Her narrative melds objective and subjective realities; she skillfully provides multiple perspectives on daily life. The book includes images by Gordon in collaboration with MidJourney AI.

COPIUM succeeds on its Flarfy juxtapositions, irony, popcult references, and occasional absurdist incoherence. She has developed a postavant poetic line that extends Modernist fragmentation into new realms, which I believe is an accomplishment of great significance.

From COPIUM by Nada Gordon (above/ground press) 

(Ottawa, Canada) (2025)

Nada Gordon has a rare ability to create poetic forms that permit (if they do not encourage) multiple but equally illuminating interpretations. In COPIUM, I unexpectedly found a lyric poem of outstanding beauty and insight. The third and fourth stanzas of the poem provide a good example of how its self-reflexivity contributes to the poem’s genesis:

Peacock fanning out…

swans entwining necks

as co-beings

 

feathering extremities

like kelp, flowers, hands

in a diamond brain (brine) of lost time.

 

For me, the pleasure of reading COPIUM is found in its self-reflective reverie, (consciously) aesthetic escapism, and its meta-poetical commentary. Gordon gives me the sublime experience of decayed opulence described to perfection with imagery by Charles Baudelaire in The Flowers of Evil. I find myself returning to the text for the pleasure of its aesthetic decadence for the same reasons I return to Baudelaire and Poe. 

COPIUM is also a fascinating compendium of English language nouns and adjectives that are useful in both scientific and artistic discourse. Here is an example from COPIUM by Nada Gordon showing her use of particulars:

 

           Caves of gems, and a pomegranate gem

           as a giant war demon.

           Mendelssohn infuses a dark city

 

           With the idea of ‘charging’

           (being recharged) –

           rogue elephants

 

           the tusk, the tree

           the metals, the mortals,

           breath and gourds and reeds.

 

           what are:

           ‘words’ ‘texts’ ‘friends’

           ‘membranes’ ‘borders’ ‘organs’

 

‘           countries’ ‘Jews’ ‘food’

‘           animals’ ‘cities’ ‘books’

           ‘cells’ ‘Gaza’ ‘gauze’

 

Paradoxically, however, looking beyond traces of conceptual writing, Gordon’s lyric is built on the solid foundation of, “No ideas but in things.” In fact, a close linguistic analysis of the various catalogs woven into COPIUM would likely produce interesting results.

A worldview present in Gordon’s writing is that language is an inevitable intermediary in human communication, expression and – of course - poetry. COPIUM is a lush sea of imagery and a (sometimes) mechanistic interrogation of language. Nada Gordon often approaches the edge of meaning: the same terrain as asemic writers. She brings COPIUM into the realm of visual and concrete poetry:

 

    Owls

    Opals

    Opossums

 

    and a lunar pOnd

    the loss of pherOmOne pOwer

    in the OdORless digital world

 

    The letter O:

    Just lOOk at it!

    Ketamina LOy.

Nada Gordon's COPIUM is a multi-faceted composition that invites readers to engage with the text often, revealing multiple perspectives and interpretations. She is one of our most important poetic voices. above/ground press has done extraordinary work producing this edition. If you only purchase one chapbook in 2025, order COPIUM by Nada Gordon. 

From COPIUM by Nada Gordon (above/ground press) 

(Ottawa, Canada) (2025)

De Villo Sloan is a concrete poet living in Upstate NY. He writes about postavant lit & culture and is director of the Winifred & De Villo Sloan, Jr. Charitable Fund.