Jim Leftwich, Some Personal History Involving Asemic Writing, 1996 - 1997

​​Jim Leftwich
SUBJECTIVE ASEMI​​C ​​POSTULATES, PART 2 (2015)​​
​with AM HORSESHOE, Luna Bisonte Prods, 1996​
and a page of spirit writing from LAFT 39, 1997

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Asemic writing did not evolve from handwriting, it​ ​emerged from typewriting, and more specifically​ ​from typing on a keyboard for a computer screen.

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Asemic writing developed from typography, not​ ​from calligraphy.

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Asemic writing is derived from the manipulation​ ​of letter-arrangements in words, phrases and​ ​sentences.

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Asemic writing did not come into being as a​ ​result of emptying the mind and imitating​ ​the processes of nature. It came into being as​ ​a result of activating the mind and analyzing​ ​the processes of writing.

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We can read things that are not written. We can​ ​be frustrated in our attempts to read things that​ ​are not written. But we gain nothing and learn​ ​nothing by choosing to call things that are not​ ​written asemic writing. We look at the sand on​ ​a beach, or the bark on a tree, or the ripples in​ ​a stream, and we can if we wish say that we are​ ​reading what we are looking at, or that we are​ ​unable to read what we are looking at, even​ ​though in some ways it reminds us of writing,​ ​but it does not become writing if we take a​ ​photograph of it, it only becomes a photograph,​ ​and it does not become writing if we make a​ ​rubbing or an imprint, it only becomes a rubbing​ ​or an imprint.

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Asemic writing began as a kind of experimental​ ​textual poetry, not as visual poetry or visual​ ​writing. It was in a sense a by-product of the​ ​processes of recombination, permutation,​ ​improvisation, and iteration.

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Asemic writing has as one of its immediate​ ​antecedents my experiment of rewriting a​ ​John M. Bennett poem while thinking about​ ​Stephen Smale's horseshoe map and the​ ​concept of topological mixing. Words and​ ​letters that begin far apart will eventually​ ​be close together, and words and letters​ ​that begin close together will eventually​ ​be far apart.  The variations are at least​ ​in theory endless. (cf., Am Horseshoe,​ ​John M. Bennett & Jim Leftwich, Luna​ ​Bisonte Prods, 1996)

I took this kind of procedural experimentation​ ​and added to it a subjective, processual stage​ ​of associational improvisation. One source​ ​text could provide the initial conditions, so to​ ​speak, for the generation of a long series of​ ​derivative texts.

The kinds of texts produced via these procedures​ ​and processes seemed at least potentially​ ​destined for asemia. The crucial aspect of this​ ​critical concept was (and is) its existence as​ ​potential, not as actuality.

Therefore, then and now: no such thing as asemic​ ​writing, only a kind of unattainable goal posited​ ​as a source of energy for our ongoing textual​ ​mutations.

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My first explorations of quasi-calligraphic faux​ ​writing came the morning after a particularly​ ​intense experience of taking what Terence​ ​McKenna ​has ​call​ed​ a "heroic dose" of psilocybin​ ​mushrooms. I had experienced a complete​ ​annihilation of the self, and not one of merging​ ​harmoniously with the universe, rather one of​ ​being ripped apart, as if in a ritual sparagmos.​ ​The next morning i was sitting in my car and ​I ​​started for the first time to write lines of illegible​ ​fake writing. It felt as if I were being guided to do​ ​this, as a kind of healing for the night before.​ ​When I sent some of these pages to John ​M. ​Bennett​ ​for LAFT he called  them "spirit writings". I had​ ​no argument with that name. Later Tim Gaze​ ​published a book of them with that title. My​ ​contribution to the recent Anthology of Asemic​ ​Handwriting is taken from that book, in response​ ​to a request from Tim.


07.06.2015

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AM HORSESHOE 

Jim Leftwich & John M. Bennett

Luna Bisonte Prods, 1996

jim leftwich spirit writing LAFT 39 1997