As Elected

Selected Writing.

 

by bpNichol;

edited by Jack David & bpNichol.

 

Vancouver, Talonbooks, october 198o. ISBN o-88922-176-6.

 

5-3/16 x 8-1/4, 72 sheets tan wove newsprint perfectbound in glossy PVC white card wrappers, all except inside covers & 3 pp (2, 8, 32) printed black offset with 3-colour process additions to front cover.

 

cover photograph by Kim Ondaatje.

other contributors:

David Aylward, Matsuo Basho, Barbara Caruso, Gaius Catullus, Wayne Clifford, Co-Accident, Jack David, Vivien Halas, Kirby Malone, Chris Mason, Steve McCaffery, Libby Oughton, Marshall Reese, Karl Siegler, Toronto Research Group.

 

includes:

i) Y (p.33; poem)

ii) H (an alphhabet), lettered by Barbara Caruso (p.34; visual poem)

iii) from 'ABC: the aleph beth book' (p.35; visual poem (ie poem for "Q", "WE MUST PUT THE POEM IN OUR LIVE"))

iv) Blues, typeset by Vivien Halas (p.36; concrete poem)

v) "arrow worra worra arrow" (p.37; concrete poem)

vi) The End of the Affair (p.38; concrete poem)

vii) The Complete Works (p.39; visual poem, revised)

viii) Allegory No. 6 (p.4o; visual poem)

ix) Aleph Unit, drawn by Barbara Caruso (pp.41-48; visual poem in 8 parts, titles not here given:

–1. [Aleph Unit Closed] (p.41)

–2. [Aleph Unit Opened] (p.42)

–3. [Aleph Unit Distance] (p.43)

–4. [Aleph Unit Surface] (p.44)

–5. [Aleph Unit Observed] (p.45)

–6. [Aleph Unit Enigmatic] (p.46)

–7. [Aleph Unit in Transit] (p.47)

–8. [Aleph Unit Not] (p.48))

x) Cycle No. 22 (p.49; concrete poem)

xi) NOT WHAT THE SIREN SANG BUT WHAT THE FRAG MENT (pp.5o-51; concrete/sound poem)

xii) Dada Lama (pp.52-56; sound poem in 6 parts:

–1. "hweeeee" (p.52)

–2. "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" (p.53)

–3. "oudoo doan doanna" (pp.53-54)

–4. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" (p.54)

–5. "tlic" (p.55)

–6. "wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" (p.56))

xii) Lament (p.57; concrete poem, revised to a single page)

xiii) from 'Trans-Continental' (pp.58-59; poetry, parts 1-4 (of 49):

–1. "an h moves past an m" (p.58)

–2. "x d" (p.58)

–3. "z" (p.59)

–4. "a d in a cloudbank" (p.59))

xiv) after hokusai (p.6o; poem)

xv) COLD MOUNTAIN (pp.61-62; poem (revision of concrete poetry object) in 2 parts:

–1. "GO" (p.61)

–2. "RETURN" (p.62))

xvi) to the memory of su t'ung po (p.63; poem)

[(xvii)-(xx) under section title 4 poems from 'Still Water']

xvii) "2 leaves touch" (p.64; poem)

xviii) "blob", translation of Matsuo Basho (p.65; concrete poem)

xix) "em ty" (p.66; concrete poem)

xx) "moon (p.67; poem)

xxi) the other side of the room (p.68; poem)

xxii) 1335 COMOX AVENUE (pp.69-7o; poem)

xxiii) Chapter 7 (pp.71-73; poetry (fromThe Captain Poetry Poems) with 2 works embedded in full:

–1. bpNichol, "Dear Rex:" (correspondence)

–2. Rex Allen, "Dear Barrie:" (correspondence))

xxiv) from 'The Plunkett Papers' (p.74; poem, "we rode the train back west in 54")

xxv) two sections from 'Mono Tones' (pp.75-76; poetry in 2 parts:

–13. "terra" (p.75)

–5o) "walk in the woods" (p.76))

xxvi) Coda: Mid-Initial Sequence (pp.77-86; poetry in 11 parts with 1o drawings of clouds by Libby Oughton:

–1. "faint edge of sleep" (p.77)

–2. "orange" (pp.77-78)

–3. "last note" (pp.78-79)

–4. "bushes" (p.79)

–5. "there is no desire for speech" (p.8o)

–6. "in vocation" (p.81)

–7. "within the difference" (p.81)

–8. (variation on a line by H.D. – in memoriam) (p.82)

–9. "whatever dies" (pp.82-83)

–1o. "11 years since i first conceived myself a writer" (pp.83-84)

–11. "'dogma i am god'" (pp.84-85))

xxvi) Scraptures: seventh sequence (pp.87-89; prose in 8 parts:

–1. "green yellow dog up. I have not. I am. green red cat" (p.87)

–2. "insect. incest. c'est in. infant. in fonts. onts. onts. ptonts." (p.87)

–3. "liturgical turge dirge dinta krak kree fintab latlina santa" (p.88)

–4. "an infinite statement. a finite statement. a statement of" (p.88)

–5. "grewat small lovers move home. red the church caught us" (p.88)

–6. "halo. hello. i cover red my sentiment. blankets return the" (p.89)

–7. "il y a là lever la lune. l'amour est le ridicule of a life sont" (p.89)

–8. "au revoir. le réveille sounds up the coach. les pieds de le" (p.89))

xxvii) from 'Andy' (pp.9o-93; prose in 1o parts:

–1. August 27, 1944 (p.9o)

–2. August 28, 1944 (p.9o)

–3. August 29, 1944 (p.9o)

–4. August 30, 1944 (p.9o)

–5. August 31, 1944 (pp.9o-91)

–6. September 2, 1944 (p.91)

–7. September 3, 1944 (p.91)

–8. September 4, 1944 (p.92)

–9. September 7, 1944 (p.92)

–1o. September 10, 1944 (pp.92-93; includes:

––a. "Received your letter & poem today. I think I will write wool-", by Andy Phillips (prose correspondence)))

xxviii) Gorg, a detective story (p.94; prose)

xxix) TWO HEROES (pp.95-99; in 11 numbered parts:

–1. "In the back garden two men sit. They are talking with one another" (p.95)

–2. "Once a long time ago they talked more easily. Once a long time" (p.95)

–3. "When the fight was over & Riel was dead & Dumont had fled into" (pp.95-96)

–4. "Time passed. No one heard much from either of them. In GRIP" (p.96)

–5. "There are some say Billy the Kid never died the story began." (pp.96-97)

–6. "Billy was in love with machines. He loved the smooth click of the" (p.97)

–7. "It was a good story as stories go. Most of their friends when" (p.97)

–8. "The problem with Africa was it was kind of damp & there was no" (p.98)

–9. "When Billy the Kid awoke the clockwork man was very still. There" (p.98)

–1o. "There are strange tales told of Billy the Kid, of what happened" (p.99)

–11. "One year the two men returned. They were both grayer & quiet." (p.99))

xxx) Twins – a history (pp.1oo-1o1; prose)

xxxi) from 'Journal' (pp.1o2-1o6; prose, part III:2, "some days i want to talk to you mommy some days i")

xxxii) Two Words: A Wedding (pp.1o7-1o8; prose)

xxxiii) Lust (a little play) (p.1o9; script)

xxxiv) Naming 3 (p.11o; concrete poem)

xxxv) probable systems 9 (pp.111-112; nonfiction in 2 parts:

–1. "problem: find [the square root of] logic to the nearest whole letter" (p.111)

–2. commentary (pp.111-112))

xxxvi) probable systems 21 (pp.113-115; nonfiction in 2 parts:

–1. the weight of speech (pp.113-114; prose with 2 graphics:

––a. "(variable member of human speech community)" (p.113)

––b. "(speech funnel)" (p.114))

–2. commentary (p.115))

xxxvi) from Catullus poem XXVIII (pp.116-117; poem in 2 parts:

–1. "Pisonis comites, cohors inanis,", by Gaius Catullus (p.116)

–2. "Piss on his committees, cohorts in inanities," (p.117))

xxxvii) The Words – Montagnais Indian (pp.118-119; sound poem)

xxxviii) Chant to the Fire-Fly (p.12o; sound poem in 2 parts:

–1. TEXT

–2. TRANSLATION)

xxxix) Translating Apollinaire (p.121; poem)

xl) Translating Translating Apollinaire 32 / Negatives 4 (p.122; poem)

xli) a poem by bill bissett (pp.123-124; poem)

[(xlii)-(xliv) under heading Three Found Poems]

xlii) "from Jacques Barzun's 'Tomorrow's Illiterates'", with David Aylward (p.125; concrete poem)

xliii) Turner's Golden Vision, with David Aylward (p.125; poem)

xliv) Puzzle, with David Aylward (p.126; poem)

xlv) from 'A Collaboration', with Wayne Clifford (pp.127-131; poem, part II:5 of Theseus ("In the garden speech continues"))

xlvi) from 'In England Now That Spring', with Steve McCaffery (p.132; poem, part 6 ("Above Ambleside the water falls"))

xlvii) Particular Music (pp.133-135; sound poetry score)

xlviii) from 'Sorrow Laid As This One', with Co-Accident & Toronto Research Group [ie Kirby Malone, Chris Mason, Steve McCaffery, Nichol, Marshall Reese] (p.136; sound poetry score, panel "in the corridor")

il) from 'The Body: In Darkness, with Steve McCaffery (p.137; sound poetry score, panel "A A")

l) Maps (pp.138-139; poem in 3 parts:

–1. 'a day' (p.138)

–2. "i don't need the framework" (pp.138-139)

–3. "the moment doesn't come" (p.139))

li) Bibliography (pp.14o-143; list of 98 titles in 1o parts:

–1. books (p.14o; 17 titles)

–2. pamphlets (pp.14o-142; 6o titles)

–3. editor (p.142; 5 titles)

–4. prints (p.142; 2 titles)

–5. radio serials (p.142; 1 title)

–6. records (pp.142-143; 4 titles)

–7. tapes (p.143; 1 title)

–8. publications as part of the Four Horsemen (p.143; 7 titles)

–9. translations (p.143; 1 title)

–1o. "has also adapted science fiction & fairy tales for the comic book" (p.143))

lii) acknowledgements (p.144; prose)

 

also includes:

liii) "H", by Kim Ondaatje (front cover; photograph)

liv) Introduction, by Jack David (pp.9-31; prose in 6 parts:

–1. "In 1975 I had an idea for a book: a selection of poetry from" (pp.9-12)

–2. "The writing included in this book has been chosen from Nichol's" (pp.12-13)

–3. "Nichol has said, at readings, that his favourite letter is H; in 'H" (pp.13-28)

–4. "Five years ago, I began the last paragraph of an essay entitled" (pp.28-29)

–5. A Brief Note on the Flux (p.29)

–6. Footnotes (pp.3o-31))

lv) SELECTED WRITING, by [Karl Siegler?] (rear cover; assemblage of quotes from:

–1. Douglas Barbour, This courageous poet stalks trail of saints

–2. Frank Davey, bpNichol

–3. George Woodcock, Poetry)

lvi) [untitled portrait of bpNichol], by Andy Phillips (rear cover; reduced version of the "Robert Planet Look-Alike" portrait)

 

Done