Ficus Strangulensis (ficus@citynet.net) is a pioneer of the electronic medium and cyberspace madman who publishes the very widely distributed ezine TRANSMOG. He writes: My greatest problem in creating or attending other's creations is in the attending. I imagine this is waht Buddha must have harped on. Don Webb once said he long had sought a "formula", some- thing written, which when read would put the reader in the proper frame to attend poetry. The current issue of TRANSMOG contains a couple of pieces that deal with this general "problem." One is a visual poem by Irving Weiss called "The Imp of the Idling Mind Disfigures Five Stanzas in the Silent Reading of a Long Poem".

The other is a long excerpt from David Antin's Book "tuning", apparently a [or the] 'performance' from which the book title was taken. It is curious to me that he allowed my re-publication just aftfer I said in a phone conver- sation that I 'loved' this piece. I don't know if you are familiar with Antin's work but he seems from this one piece both thinker and artist. He's a prof emeritus at UCSD [coincidentally where also is Vernor Vinge, one of the 'pushers' of the notion of the Technological Singularity upon which I still obsess a lot].

Oh, and his real name is Forrest Richie.









harder


Porto was walking home from himself. The bus was as silent as a gundy leatherette volume arrived, it gave me a sudden and unexpected business when the kids were grown.

Inside I was screaming, NO! I'm an apostrophe, any more than hers, was running back and forth between work because I couldn't breathe. One seemed to have shrunk back into my breath. It was like somebody was bearing my last name. Denise is effu- sciousness on a respirator. At one school, double-locking the door she responded with physical threats.

Within reach of me now is a jar probably thinking: Why was I giv- ing out on the street below.

About once a day, it hits me: I've a country lane in Lithonia, Ga., and drugs. The terror was indescribable.


Ficus strangulensis
970101::14:34:35




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