3-chord linguistics 01.25.2024

 asemic writing

desemantized writing

pansemic playhouse 1460

jim leftwich

cut-up & collaged stamps 

pansemic playhouse 1460 

05.03.2017

jim leftwich

conceptual asemia -- The Non 

pansemic playhouse 1460 

05.03.2017

 

jim leftwich, a page from No Such Thing As Repetition (2001)

jim leftwich
Death Text Book 8 (2003)
When bears prevail Take ___ breath (microbooks, 2011)
Pixies----Calcium (2010)
Things Rescued From Eternal Nonexistence (2001)
No Such Thing As Repetition (2001)
WHAT (1996)
turtle fish sun flower. cat kite beetle boat. (2001)
noodle had (2001)
quasi-letteral anti-calligraphy (2011)
mead memo (2007)
mead memo (2004-2007)
mead memo (2002-2006)
mead memo (2006)

 

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

jim leftwich, stencilwork pansemic playhouse 744-01.28.14

                        stencilwork pansemic playhouse 744-01.28.14

jim leftwich, stencilwork pansemic playhouse 747-01.28.14

                stencilwork pansemic playhouse 747-01.28.14

jim leftwich, yesemic, pansemic playhouse 1341, 08.07.2015

         jim leftwich

         refrigerator magnet poem 

         10th street roanoke

         08.07.2015

         pansemic playhouse 1341

Jim Leftwich, 5 Books of Visual Poetry & Asemic Writing (2021)

 

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Noisic Gaps Between Hax Le.wn Light Jim Leftwich 2021

 

Nov 19, 2021

 

Jim Leftwich

texts

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Yarrow Of Youthlessness Jim Leftwich 2021

 

Nov 19, 2021

 

Jim Leftwich

texts

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The October Revolution In Poetry Jim Leftwich 2021

 

Nov 19, 2021

 

Jim Leftwich

texts

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Kokopelli Pyramid Haiku Jim Leftwich 2021

 

Nov 19, 2021

 

Jim Leftwich

texts

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Brut Pareidolia Jim Leftwich 2021

 

Nov 19, 2021

 

Jim Leftwich

Jim Leftwich interviewed by Burak Ş. Çelik about asemic writing & related matters

I was recently interviewed by Burak Ş. Çelik about asemic writing. The interview is published in the 8^th Issue of Buzdokuz Poetry Theory Criticism Magazine, which is available here:

buzdokuz.com

English version

posted/published by Dirk Vekemans at platform plee

jim leftwich 5 poems from the 1990s

 

Asemic and Pansemic, Jim Leftwich (reposted from Asemic Front 2, edited by De Villo Sloan)

 

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Jim Leftwich responds to "New pansemic vispo" (June 10, 2020)

"pansemia" by Jim Leftwich (July 15, 2005)

Hi De Villo,

Thank you for your latest Asemic Front 2 posting. I very much appreciate being included in your compilations [see "New pansemic vispo by Jim Leftwich." Asemic Front 2. June 10, 2020)

Here's a piece entitled "pansemia" I posted to my flickr site almost 15 years ago [shown above], on July 15, 2005. I had been using the term for a year or two prior to establishing the textimagepoem blogzine and its accompanying flickr site.

That was a phase for me. If you look around in the linked flickr album you'll find pieces using the title "asemia" from the same time period. The term "pansemia" didn't replace the term "asemia" in my thinking (nor did "pansemic" replace "asemic"); it merely assisted me in expanding my understanding of the theory and practice of asemic writing. If you're interested in this subject at all, then that point is worth noting. 

.

Lately, starting at the beginning of this year, 2020, I have been using the term "asemous" because it immediately and inevitably conjures the contrasting word "polysemous." No one can imagine that the term "asemous" is intended to be synonymous with the term "polysemous." Again, I think anyone who is interested in this subject at all should be interested in this point. 

Asemic writing was never intended to provide any kind of "reader response, anything goes, it means whatever you want it to mean" experience. Quite the opposite, in fact. It has always been intended to thwart the production of that kind of semantic noise.

I am writing this in a hotel room in Weatherford, OK, just west of Oklahoma City. My wife and I are headed for North Carolina, to spend some time with some of her family. We have been traveling around the southwest and the California coast for most of the past six months. 

OK. Some info for you, as an extended thank you for your ongoing support.

All best,

Jim

"pansemia" by Jim Leftwich (July 15, 2005)

"pansemia" by Jim Leftwich (July 15, 2005)