marlene mountain
1999
as was/is

 

7/24/99

rules & regs

the r/r i go by if they are such is in 1-line/2-person changing at 6/7 etc -- from hiro in early eighties. so same person wouldn't write all long. doesn't seem to be a rule as just one solution to a problem. the 6/12/12/6 & 36 links we all learned way back was a basho thing. forget from whom. maybe tadashi. [write to oneself doesn't apply to 3-person.] as mentioned before i've suggested other configurations of 36 w/other 2-person.

since 'congratulate host' doesn't apply to mail/email links and i don't hang around poets it's of little interest as intro poem. nor all those other japanese respect attitudes of so many slow to begin/close etc. i merely like the visual quality of 6/12/12/6 and not the japanese intention. also the challenge of writing to oneself. throughout this is the long/short which is one kind of form/shape. there's short/long too. and the oops i screwed-up again form

linking is an ancient idea as how the canaanites wrote about nature as sex and sex as nature. symbolic and all. birth death renewal of seasons/crops/etc. by rephrasing parts of one line in the next. as seen in bible lifted from the canaanite style. and other nature/sex cultures. the content/attitude/symbolism misunderstood or deliberately used to discredit sex and call women whores and stone lovers. adopting/adapting such content to the discomfort of generations to come even if it could be used for mean purposes and such.

i don't know where leaping comes from but in 'ku/ga' it's a great idea.

repetition of words or not. moon/flower/love whatever is accepted in japanese/japaneasy. much confusion/opinions re other words. esp in recent years. i think repetition works w/themes where leaping is not main idea. tho with some over-all view. otherwise depends on poets. but if one wants to send to a highfalutin contest or mag it's considered bad writing. i don't keep up with such tho. bill has 'the definitive' rules or did. read this somewhere on web last night:

Art is either plagiarism or revolution. -- Paul Gauguin

 

re working within something

i understand this. reminds me of my ancient red and green and white - some 80 theme and variations of dividing rectangles in obvious ways. and the later stripe paintings. paint in partial within restricted areas. the rectangle camera lens. the shape of a canvas [i've used several- circle, triangle, two-peaked, octagon, diamond]. people playing jazz - of known tunes.

i just don't have an affinity with japanese rules or attitudes. the latter more significant and the ones i had to dismiss/get out of love with the surface 'beauty' of things japanese. when i came to understand the underlying concepts this made it relatively less difficult. scared me in fact. caused me to talk about control of people thru art--and to see how it was/is a universal thing by church/state 'reliegion/governmen' - and to talk about 'rootical' --and now that i've gotten beyond the blood sweat tears i want to see what comes next in content - if anything. in attitude if that happens yet again. one-line doesn't get in the way as yet.

art is expression - it's up to each individual to determine what and how much to express and/or to allow internal and unknown processes to develop and/or whatever and however it happens and especially without the imposition of repressive and oppressive and humiliating male concepts on both females and males for a change. rebellion is merely in the eye of the oppressor. mm

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