{"id":721,"date":"2013-10-28T13:46:28","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T13:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/?p=721"},"modified":"2013-10-28T13:52:55","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T13:52:55","slug":"mike-johnsons-visual-poetry-displayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/?p=721","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson’s visual poetry displayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently had a couple of visual poems displayed in a Swindon Art Gallery, under the auspices of \u2018Domestic Cherry\u2019 magazine and Swindon Artsite<\/em>. Sometime before that, I had a number of poems displayed,\u00a0 for a month, in Corsham Library, under the auspices of the Corsham Poetry Society.\u00a0 A selection of three of these displayed poems are discussed here: I thought it would be interesting to explore their informing principles, which directly led to their process of composition, with you.<\/p>\n

Poems are an interplay of linguistic and additional semiotic elements e.g. white space, varying where lines start and end, sound\u00a0 echoes and so on. This entails that meaning, shape and sound all contribute to a poem\u2019s spectrum of effects. I like to aim at quite minimal pieces, to allow the reader maximum imaginative freedom.<\/p>\n

I am attracted to poems, then, that stretch the spectrum of elements i.e. when the shape goes beyond \u00a0linear norms, making an instant impact, when the sounds move into the realm of noise, including \u00a0onomatopoeia (less prevalent in these examples, perhaps, but there). Finally, foregrounded kinaesthetics is usually present my poems – reading a poem, you move along and down in a rather different manner to that in which you read prose and I try to extend this fact. These verbivisivoco<\/em> effects, then, underlie much of my work.<\/p>\n

Sadly (or, alternatively, happily!) children\u2019s poetry has embraced such techniques rather more than adult poetry, though I do feel that the above poems exist in a crossover<\/em> space, one in which both adults and children can find equal pleasure. I \u00a0certainly got interesting responses from adults, when the poems were on display. Additionally, both adults and children like the poems, judging by responses when I have performed them. All three poems have appeared in publications for children and \u2018Dad, the amateur hypnotist\u2019 won\u00a0 the Thynks adult poetry competition in 2012.<\/p>\n

To stop this brief exploration becoming too long, I would\u00a0 briefly like to point out some factors in the above poems, which helped me to realize them.<\/p>\n

PHASES OF THE MOON<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In this poem I have used punctuation symbols and the letter O to visually represent phases of the moon, in the order in which they occur. The kinaesthetic element of reading\u00a0 across and down the page is added to by the visual representation of the moon changing shape. The use of blank space as an element of meaning\u00a0 completes the action of the poem. \u00a0I love the idea of nothing meaning something.<\/p>\n

There are also quite conventional elements here,\u00a0 of course, such as alliteration on \u2018g\u2019 and full rhyme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE ICEBERG THAT SANK THE TITANIC\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The visual element here is foregrounded i.e. the poem is set out in the shape of an iceberg, with h<\/em> <\/em>being included, to suggest the sea. Both these elements add subtle degrees of kinaesthesis, not to mention the notion that the iceberg and the Titanic<\/em> have collided. However, the poem could also be set-out in a more conventional manner and, thus, become amenable to more traditional analysis:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

and so on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>DAD, THE AMATEUR HYPNOTIST<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

This poem takes the kinaesthetic element further still, in that you have to mimic the swinging of the hypnotist\u2019s watch, as you read the poem. There are onomatopoeic elements too, in both \u2018click\u2019 and \u2018miaow\u2019. When I perform this poem, I actually click my fingers for the \u2018click\u2019. Many children and adults have actually supplied it for me, unasked, at performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hope this very short exploration has been appealing and I would like to end with one final visual poem, which I always send my students, as inspiration, when they start the poetry blocks.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently had a couple of visual poems displayed in a Swindon Art Gallery, under the auspices of \u2018Domestic Cherry\u2019 magazine and Swindon Artsite. Sometime before that, I had a number of poems displayed,\u00a0 for a month, in Corsham Library, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1],"tags":[125,124],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-concrete-poetry","tag-visual-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions\/758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/WritingTutors\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}