March 4th, 2009
Link • Audio, Poems, Tributes • 3 Comments
DAVID ALPAUGH: “I’m attracted to poetry by its thrilling language—the electricity generated by the A & B of metaphor ‘running beautiful together.’ Visual poetry increases the voltage, counterpointing the poem’s words with a third dimension that commands the eye and affords the complex pleasure of a triple-read. The circular, vortex-driven background of ‘Space Monkey’ forces the outwardthrusting text downward and into orbit around the photo of a nebula that looks suspiciously like a human eye.”
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–from Rattle #29, Summer 2008
Tribute to Visual Poetry
I have known David Alpaugh for a very long
time, although the past fifty years are missing. Before that, oh what news. David is more than a poet; he is an inspiration. Ask him about the PM Bookshop in Plainfield New Jersey. Right next-door, you could push a button below the store front window and make the choo-choo go round. Make sense? J. Battaglia
In David Alpaugh’s poem, Space Monkey, I find the visual setting to increase the power of the words, and in any poem might expand the meaning of words. It seems like a merging of concrete shape and music. In fact, I would love to hear this poem set to music. Wonderful stuff. It’s allaroundus.
We, underrated men, find this poem exciting as well. As Fred commented, “it’s all around us”. We believe the marriage of spoken space monkey with spatial sonic sounds is a must for any large grey this year.
If you do too, or if more research is required, then copy and paste this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDD2vFHtaYg
urMen