marlene mountain
as was/is
notes from journals
1980s

journal bits

12/1/81

the opposite of what art is is usually what it becomes

the opposite of art is usually what it becomes

4/7/82

women's art (the varied issues inherent and the potential of those as yet to be realized) has shaken the very core of all that i once believed--and for that i'm grateful.

art by women (the varied issues inherent, and the potential of those yet to be realized) has shattered the very core of all that i once knew--and for that challenge i am most grateful

6/9/82

on gov't money (the system, patriarchy) not cleaning house, drawers, closets, cabinets--but painting (albeit 'old') poems against it. And for women. Cleaning house on $92 a week is even less than 59 cents. --- Looks like ERA is dead. IL didn't come thru w/procedural. NC last week tabled. End of 'ERA' beginning of a real one. [Some women in IL on hunger strike 24 days.]

8/7/82

do a linked talking haiku from bible (other sources) on women

4/18/83

garden visualization today. pulled weeds from garden which symbolized pain from my body. plantain w/long roots & mint w/runners. just lower half & lower spine. sensations seemed to go away for a while.

9/8/83

My lover thinks that each linker only writes what he/she wants to write regardless of the previous link. So here's 18 links. My renga. When we're finished send me your 18 links and I'll do my part. We can call it real renga.

1/26/84

found haiku of anat in 'female'

visual renga with sato 'female' & japanese

double renga 'female' & japanese and english

2/23/84

list: unaloud, minimal, women's, dadaku, erotiku, punk, untamed, political, protest, 'zen,' female, talking, one word, one line, four line

4/22/84

letter to Rod: I like to juxtapose something that doesn't seem to be a haiku with something that does seem to be one. They rub off and against each other . . . sequence form allows for a larger range of how words are put together, or left out. Topics: rape, aids, herpes, clitoridectomy, goddess, unemployment, the patriarchy, sperm, bomb, diaphragm, oral sex, menstruation, dope, murder. I've called god a prick and said fuck the bible, fuck the constitution. And i promise none of it for sensationalism, would want the readers to think . . . about the human condition

more than anything i want what i do (painting & writing) to be seen as women's art

5/22/84

title: tonight i am mountain

6/27/84

beginning of pop

9/4/84

haiku seq--tear outs

10/26/84

to Alexis: Autobiographical art ... takes its toll. Often I groan twice, once about the experience & then at the realization that I'll probably be drawn into the process of writing (or painting) it. There seems to be a force.

I rather think we are so fuckin brainwashed that it's a wonder we ever have a thought. Buddha, guru, et al are ok I suppose. Give me though a few pages of a 'wild radical' woman (Lesbian, if possible) & I'm so enlightened I need to rest. Sometimes in fact I feel I've learned/understood/ grown about all I can stand. For me the Goddess is 98% political, which makes her very spiritual.

12/9/84

should start a magazine called 'the other' haiku

social, political, feminist, radical, worldly, personal, sexual, up front

have 2 pages of tearoom mind haiku

9/2/85

to Elizabeth: I've done a lot of reading the last few years on the plight of women. I'm continually amazed how we've been able to endure the onslaught. Well, I can't change the world, but I can leave messages to the effect that I'm pissed. When something is dumped in my lap--personally or universally--I want to pick it up, tie a red ribbon on it, and toss it back into the world. I guess that's part if what the cross words are about.

9/21/85

for a long while some of the haiku philosophies were better than most of the poems

now it appears that some of the haiku are better than most of the philosophies

9/22/85

'. . . according to Basho . . . the art of haiku should be the outbursting of attitudes he holds every day . . .' Kaoru Kubota, Modern Haiku XVI:2, pg 20

9/23/85

Ray probably has written more so-called non-haiku that I have. Basically both of us, most of the time, have understood what we've done, in spite of the self-doubts each of us has had. You go on--& you more often than not trust yourself to be coming close to what it's about

10/10/85

just about the time i think i've written it all out another goddam piece of shit in the news etc

10/12/85

i claim haiku as my base--within that some are, some aren't--just like everybody else. i have to speak my piece/peace. i have to show the reality that i'm aware of at this time. i don't know what i will see tomorrow. this is what i see today

12/27/85

to Hal: Sometimes I want to throw up my hands & and say 'no more.' It's not that haiku or painting can't contain it, but I don't know if I can. And if I can, people will get mad at me. And say 'but that isn't haiku.' As if that had anything to do with anything.

12/27/85

title: things as they really are

2/13/86

believe it or not this book {pop&cw} is not antimale. it speaks in part though to how a great many males treat, speak of, think of females. if a male is offended (that's always a first step to word enlightenment) & says 'that's not me, i am not like that' my answer is so what are you doing to improve the male image and more importantly the female plight? it's how the vast majority of the male race treats, speaks of, etc the vast majority of females in the world

it's hardly worth a dang to open one's mouth to say 'not me'

so these poems & visuals are meant in part to open dialogue & to get us all to think about who we are as humans--and more importantly how can we improve, make humankind a good word--a great concept and a reality

2/14/86

on women's week: then we could have men's week (when we take over). see how it feels to them to have 51 weeks when nobody gives a shit about them. as it is nobody gives a shit about woman during her week

2/18/86

put the hu back in mankind and make kind then take the whole word seriously

matriculture

first we'll get everything going right
later much later
we'll establish a yearly 'men's week'
probably

matririte and matririot

that's just after they get the vote
if they do
sometime after a debate 'if they're human'
a long debate
after their biological destiny is 'determined' & 'ingrained'
a shit list is in order
or maybe just maybe
don't stop now
maybe women's week could extend to women's year
now maybe to each female's whole life is valued
do you think?
well it could be tried world wide tomorrow
it think it would be quicker to riot

2/19/86

book: dedicated to the universe, to her preservation, and to the healing of all her inhabitants

5/23/86

i think therefore i am pissed {first ?}

7/6/86

Jerry called said not to be/get discouraged, important book. Jane made definite decision to write book on women in haiku after getting pop&cw

7/9/86

eidos called: was to use woodcut w/genitals on cover. printer sent back. will use it & not send except to subscribers or use one woodcut without genitals. meese commission on pornography. banned in boston literally

John S wants me to write article based on my question, what is haiku in a nuclear, violent world? i'd just as soon not.

9/18/86

i thought of haiku as organic from the beginning little by little i got beat down

2/23/87

each of us needs to find out what haiku is to us. individually. too often poets will stop short of that--not that they don't write good and exceptional haiku, they do. but in a sense they write within others' concepts, and never get beyond the so-called 'universal' perception of what a haiku is, to that which separates the creators from the recreators--but more than that, to the deep perceptions

10/27/87

do a linked poem with mad/up words

do a linked poem with m daly's words

1/25/88

make up a visual female hominid writing 'system' & write haiku in it, then translate to english

1/28/88

the flow of getting the writing interrupted by jase and a truck & taking job in k'port * same old arguments--and by b. here too. but what a leap! with the turning of reactionary to positive

not satisfied with womonid. what does nid or inid mean? hominid not even in my 'dickshunarys'