Words by Geof Huth
177 words contributed
-
uhDEDbeing dead while still remaining a subject of constant
speculation and attentionOrigin: from a sqwording of alive (the a- suggesting also “not”) and dead1990 -
aa FEK tiv1. both affective (transmitting emotion) and effective
(bringing about the hoped-for response) 2. effective in
being affectiveOrigin: sqwovernding of affective and effective1985 -
A certain written form of a particular letter. (Yet there is another level of
meaning that changes with each allograph, an esthetic meaning that we
cannot avoid.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2004 -
Of or pertaining to allographs. (He also drew the y as a balanced furca (Y),
suggesting a nose between the two E’s, which are themselves displayed as an
allographic form of the E known as the Greek E.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2004 -
aamdand (but implying possession or responsibility on the part
of the speaker)Origin: sqwording of and and am1991 -
uh NAH nih muh NEE1. an anonymous person 2. someone whose identity is not
knownOrigin: anonymo(us) + anenome (a flower, but also an entity)1989 -
Dictionary of creative, rather than serious, lexicography (see also
contradictionary, neolexicon, and pataglossary). (This book of poems
demonstrates the potential power of an artform I call the antidictionary.
Antidictionaries provide entertainment or insight into the meanings that
common or invented words may or may not have.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2005 -
ay OR ullboth sounded and heardOrigin: < aural + oral1992
-
AH poe dee oo AA pwahd fri POE wee OIDFconfusing, enigmatic, inexplicableOrigin: aleatoric coinage fashioned at a computer1988
-
ay POE ree sisthe figure of speech whereby a word is reduced from both
its front and its back, leaving nothingOrigin: < apocope + apheresis1995 -
(aa pro SEE vuur)1. a person who views an artistic work, in a broad sense
2. a person who not only views and reads, but who hears,
feels (with mind and body) and even smells and tastes 3. a
person who knows how to experience a type of art
--approceive, v.
Origin: [an onsqwording of the ixal appro- onto apperceiver to suggest "to apperceive appropriately" and "to receive and appropriate]7/7/1987 -
are TET ickhaving the qualities of artionOrigin: adjectival form of "artion"1987
-
ART shuncommercial (often anonymous) art which, because of the
different purpose intended for it, is not considered to
have the same value as standard artOrigin: < art + -tion1986 -
A form of visual poetry constructed entirely of invented letters or characters
and, thereby, having no literal semantic meaning. (The first few sheets
contained nothing that held any interest for me, but eventually I designed a
couple of sheets of asemic writing that I found interesting enough not to
discard.) (On each sheet of paper, I found the most careful and controlled
asemic writing I’ve ever encountered.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2005 -
AW dee oh lahzh1. audio collage 2. the sound collage produced on a tape
recorderOrigin: < audio- + collage1990 -
Not using or including words. (Every night this week, I’ve created at least one
small visual poem. As I created the poems, I imagined them as being entirely
averbal, I imagined that I was working with nothing but shape.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2005 -
b D b Dthe repetition of like or similar shapes (in visual
literature) or similar sounds (in aural literature) for
cumulative effect
—bdbdism, n
—bdbdal, adjOrigin: aural and visual coinage1985 -
CHANE wurda word devised by stringing two or more words together,
each of which must share at least one letter with each
subword it abutsOrigin: < chain + wordca 1990 -
sih NAY lahzhcinematic collage, which would include extreme intercutting
of unrelated footage and images printed atop each otherOrigin: < cinematic + collage1988 -
kuh LAHZH urr AY shun1. a collaborative collage
2. the collage of not only materials but also of mindsOrigin: < collage + collaboration1988 -
CON sept TEXTa conceptual text
Origin: meioreducdancy of the phrase conceptual textca 1990 -
kun FLEHKT1. to intertwine
2. to tie together, inseparably and conflictinglyOrigin: unconscious bastardization of "complect"1984 -
A lexicomic glossary that re-defines a set of standard words (see also
antidictionary, neolexicon, and pataglossary). (The Devil’s Dictionary, the
most famous contradictionary, provides the real (that is, the cynical)
definition of words so that we can finally learn that “black” is “white.”)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2005 -
Geof Huth’s micropress.Origin: [established in 1987 in Horseheads, New York]1987
-
DEE reh fin DIH shunn. To coin a word by redefining (and, therefore, remaking) an old
word (i.e., Amos M. Mouse's instigate, a short-lived controversy). --
derefine, v.Origin: [ixalling of de- and re- onto the renonified findition; and re-placement of the ixals of redefinition to suggest derefine, redefine, rerefine, derefind, rerefind, dedefind and redefine]1987 -
Kinetic visual poetry created for viewing via a computer. (Currently, a still-
developing form of visual poetry is digital poetry, visual poetry written for the
computer screen, poetry whose words or letters dance before us, or which
require us to carry out certain actions before it will relieve its secrets.) (But
digital poetry finds much of its inspiration in cinema.) (With a little
imagination, though, we may be able to devise ways to capture and preserve
digital poetry, at least temporarily. One solution, though not a preferable one,
is to convert the digital poem to some simple audiovisual format: motion-
picture film, videotape, mpegs.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]6/2004 -
The essential layout and other visual elements of a particular type of
document. (Think, for a second, of the hundreds of documental
structures that can inform the printer’s fist of a visual poem: doodles,
telegrams, emails, maps, architectural drawings, tickets, banners,
memoranda, postage stamps, schematic drawings, rebuses, crossword
puzzles, knitting patterns, advertisements, newspapers, word squares,
scrolls, pennants, T-shirts, petroglyphs, tattoos, rubber stamps, illuminated
manuscripts, indentures, broadsides, magazines, religious tracts, faxes,
logos, train schedules, diaries.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]9/2004 -
Digital poetry based on pre-existing textual poems and which fails to create a
satisfying digital environment for reading.Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]2/2004 -
en EN en EN eenot knowing when to stop when spelling the word banana
Origin: repetition of the common letter (N or en) in the word bananaca 1985 -
EH dikhaving qualities
{This is the vaguest of adjectives, but still a useful one.}
Origin: < the isolation of the suffix -etic ("having the qualities of")1987 -
YOU thuh NAY zee uhstsomeone who whole-heartedly supports the practice of
euthanasiaOrigin: < euthanasia + e(n)th(u)siast1992 -
EK struh SOO per HIP oh PAH to MON STROH ses quih pih DAY lee uh nizman extremely long wordOrigin: < extra- + super + hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianismca May 1990
-
FIH jit GLIFa small handwritten visual poem in the guise of a doodleOrigin: < fidget (what causes the production of one) + glyph (what one is)02/2002
-
FUH shun1. a simultaneous melting together and breaking apart
2. more specifically, the effect of sqwording: the fusing
together of two disparate words, and their straining
towards separationOrigin: < fission + fusion1987 -
A sound poem or its textual score by Jackson Maclow. (Written on graph
paper, the sound poems in the Emmett anthology appeared under the name
“gatha” (a term that refers to a type of chanted Buddhist poetry).)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]12/2004 -
The diminution of quality that occurs each time an analog document is
copied. (What I first noticed about these documents is that they suffer from
serious generational degradation. This first exhibit is not the best example of
this feature, but I think it is fairly easy to see some of the signs of textual
degradation.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]9/2004 -
JEHR uhnd ih fih KAY shunthe coining of a new word by making a gerund of an old oneOrigin: < gerund + -ification, suggested by "gentrification"1987
-
gruh MAA dih KYOOLany small piece of grammar: word, syllable, punctuation
mark, stress, etc.Origin: < grammatic + -cule (as in "animacule")1986 -
Transformation (of something) by a Huth (particularly Geof). (My huthification
of the source text includes a more stylish sans-serif typeface (the Trebuchet
you didn’t realize was the carrier of these words), the occasional use of color,
a few more typographical games than any of its ancestral texts (save biloid’s),
the incorporation of French into the text (appropriately enough, considering
its genealogy), and a greater reliance on the pun for esthetic effect.)
Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
A hypertextual manuscript. (Note that I’m using “hyperscript” below as the
digital equivalent of “manuscript.”)
Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]8/2004 -
HAI phih SKWUURDa hyphenated sqword: for example, G. Huth’s "pseudo-archai-
poetic"Origin: < hyphenated + sqword (c.f.)1987 -
id ee OH lek sih KAHN1. a dictionary of a single person’s language
2. a dictionary of the words a single person inventedOrigin: < idio- (as in idiomatic) + lexicon1987 -
id ee OH sin TACK teean individual’s personal syntax, especially if it is
somehow very different from the normOrigin: < idio- (as in "idiomatic") + syntacty (suggesting "syntax")1987 -
ihm BRIK uh SKWUURD1. a sqword in which one element of the word lays over a
section of the other element: as in "latinesis" where
the "latin" of it overlaps the "gen-" of "genesis,"
partially covering it
2. a sqword without a neat seamOrigin: < imbricate (to overlap) + sqword1987 -
im PRESH incefaulty extra-sensory perceptionOrigin: < imprecise + prescience1991
-
ince LEE1. perfectly
2. nicely, to the smallest unit of measurement
3. correctlyOrigin: a transposis of "nicely" that suggests "inchly"1987 -
in SUURPTa passage placed within another document, transcript, etc.;
a passage surreptitiously added to a document to change the
document’s meaning to later researchersOrigin: invented opposite of "excerpt"3/9/1988 -
eenstuff, matterOrigin: a common suffix left to its own devices7/23/1988
-
Art that uses information and the examination of information as its primary
focus. (Imagine a possible piece of information art: a visual poem built within
a GIS. A landscape of the imagination that is created out of words and
images. An interactive environment whose particular reality each reader
would determine. A place where each inhabitant could choose the particular
aspects of the world to view. A land of word and shadow and possibility.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]5/2004 -
in YOO der OH fintan unborn humanOrigin: < Latin "in utero" + infant6/9/1989
-
An artist who works in obscurity. (The greatest joy and deepest melancholy of
an invisible artist is to flash for a brief instant into visibility, to set up a small
stage upon the earth for people to view one’s work, to lean awkwardly in the
corner and watch people view that art. From time to time, I’ve had such an
experience, one that reminds me why I am an invisible artist and how
appropriate it is to my temperament.) (The concept of the invisible artist—one
who creates in obscurity, who works in little-known or little-appreciated arts,
who passes for a real person—is another vanishing point.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]6/2004 -
ICK sill1. suffixal and prefixal
2. relating to the use of suffixes and prefixes and roots--
the orts of language; the bits of meaning from which other
words can be made
ixal, v—to use ixals to make wordsOrigin: < the suffix of "prefixal" and "suffixal" and "infixal"Feb 1987 -
aizto do
{Itself, the ultimate techno-word.}
Origin: coined by isolating the "-ize" found at the ends of many latinetic techno-wordsJan 1987 -
kid SPEEKthe peculiar and personal manner of speaking of young
childrenOrigin: kid + newspeakOct 1994 -
LAA dih NEE suhssthe invention of words by using words from Classical
languages —adj, latinetic
This is one of the most important types of word-
invention, especially in science.
Origin: < "Latin" + "genesis"2/12/1987 -
Textual poetry. (It is the visual cotext that distinguishes the visual poem from
lexical poetry (or nonsense text).Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
LUH vurr eethe dreamy memory of a long-ago love.Origin: < love + revery11/8/1984
-
MAAN see1. divination in general
2. any type of divinationOrigin: < -mancy (denoting divination)Oct 1985 -
muh SESSthe sometimes unknowing assessment of something by a great
mass of unrelated people
—n, massessment
{A typical massessment would be of consumer products:
even if people don’t consider what they are doing, when
they buy or don’t buy something they are helping massess
that product.}Origin: < mass + assess5/21/1987 -
A verbo-visual or purely verbal poetry that uses numerals and mathematical
formulae and symbols as part of its text. (uch of my day today will be devoted
to working on my "Historical Dictionary of Verbo-Visual Art," and I've begun
by working on entries concerning mathematical poetry, largely because a
couple of booklets of mathematical poetry came into my possession at the
very end of 2003.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
MAA thih MAA tih CULLto decide mathematically how to make a selection from a
group of itemsOrigin: < mathematical + cull1/20/1988 -
MAA thih muh TAASS tuh SIZE1. to increase geometrically
2. to have mathematical concerns override othersOrigin: < mathematics + metastasize1/20/1988 -
A visual landscape of verbo-visual sense. (There are no pretty how towns.
No-one dances a didn't. Cummings is creating a weird meaningscape within a
familiar, almost nursery rhyming, poem.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]11/2004 -
MY oh ree DUCK daan SEEthe shortening of a word to re-form it and coin a new word
(i.e., James Joyce’s "sylble" which is a meioreducdancy
of "syllable" forming a new word suggesting "sybil")Origin: < meio- + reduc- +-dancy7/4/1987 -
MEH tum EM fuh sisextreme emphasis (like underlining a word six times)
—metamemphatic, adjOrigin: < meta(m)- + emphasis6/30/1987 -
MET uh form1. the form metaphor gives to phor
2. that which metaphor changes things intoOrigin: < metaphor + form3/20/1988 -
MEH duh for MOR fuh sis1. metamorphosing event of metaphor
2. when metaphor increases an event beyond its literal
level
—metaphormorphosic, adjOrigin: < metaphor + metamorphosis5/26/1987 -
meh tuh SKWUURD1. a very long sqword
2. a sqword about sqwordsOrigin: < meta- + sqword7/4/1987 -
A type of publishing house that consists of usually a single person and that
produces short print runs of usually small and partially handmade
publications. (There are many examples of such early micropress operations:
bpNichol and David Aylward’s Ganglia Press and d. a. levy’s 7 Flowers Press
published visual poetry in a wide variety of formats. At this point, the
mimeograph revolution propelled the micropress movement.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]7/2004 -
The particular layout of a page of text. (Suffusing the entire mise-en-page is
a faint reverse image of a newspaper page—media (in the form of printed
words) soak into this entire image.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]11/2004 -
MIh sihv PIH sill LEH tuura letter, a piece of correspondence
{The word is merely a study in coincidence.}Origin: < missive + epistle + letter11/17/1987 -
m NAOUN1. a type of spilleng which suggests one word within
another word: i.e., taughtology
2. a spilleng that alters the word into another word
—mnonative, adjOrigin: < mnemonic + noun6/10/1987 -
MOR form1. perfect form
2. form suggested by subject
3. form as a sign of form
4. purity of form
Origin: < morph- (form, shape) + form7/4/1987 -
A drawing of a thing created out of the wrawn letters of the word that names
that thing. (From this illustration alone we can see that a nameograph is
nothing more than the name of something or someone written in such a way
that it forms a drawing of that person or of something associated with that
person.) (The Robotype Galeria keeps adding new typograms to the front of
the line, so anything you add to it will eventually recede onto deeper pages.
Most of the products of this site are nothing more than Nameograph-like
animals.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3.2005 -
Publishing on the Internet instead of to paper. (Micropress publications rarely
were published in print runs that exceeded 100, but nanopublishing makes it
possible for that many people to see a publication on its very day of birth.
Nanopublishing does have the disadvantage of ephemerality: if a publisher
doesn’t make an effort to save any publishing efforts in cyberspace, these
could disappear forever.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]7/2004 -
nayz AY nulltending towards being a brownnoseOrigin: < nasal + analJul 1997
-
A glossary of neologisms (see also antidictionary, contradictionary,
neolexicon, and pataglossary). (mIEKAL aND’s marvelous neolexicon Introgic
Enclodiacy takes a number of the author’s invented words and defines them
in outlandish ways.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]5/2004 -
ness1. the swarming hereness of being 2. existenceOrigin: spilleng of the ixal "-ness"5/23/1987
-
The micropress; those publishing efforts undertaken by individuals as an
avocation and occurring primarily during the night. (When we struggle to
present works of art that few others can enjoy, when we struggle to publish
with small budgets and little wherewithal, when we live our lives more
dedicated to art than money, we often find ourselves working at night at
second jobs as publishers. Those of us who live our lives so are members of
what I call the nocturnal press.) (The Once-Vibrant Nocturnal Press of Barney
Square Apartments in the City of Schenectady, from Whence All Inspiration
Flows.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]7/2004 -
oke GRAEENK1. damp, rotten oakwood 2. the wet moss on the trunk of an
oakOrigin: < oak + the invented word gruynk (suggested by grimy and junk), derived aleatorically from some lettered wooden blocks6/3/1990 -
ahn SKWUURDa type of sqword where a word is sqworded onto (thereby
replacing) a specific section (usually, a syllable) of
another word (i.e., James Joyce’s "burstday" as an
onsqwording of "burst" onto "birthday")Origin: < on + sqword (c.f.)7/5/1987 -
OP tee SIN tacksthe syntax of visual space, size and proportion, as opposed
to verbosyntax —optysyntaktyk, adjOrigin: < optical + syntax5/21/1987 -
A visual poet’s control of the visual and non-verbal aspects of a visual poem.
(Personally, I control the painter’s palette by limiting it. I almost always use
only primary and secondary colors—and I prefer primary colors.) (Robert
Indiana, known primarily as a painter, is a good example of the type of visual
poet most in control of the painter’s palette.) (If a poem is visually
uncompelling, if it hides its beauty from us, then the painter’s palette is the
source of the trouble.) (His masterpiece, “Io and the Ox-eye Daisy” exhibits a
great amount of skill combining the printer’s fist and the painter’s palette
into effective instances of the poet’s pen in action; this poem is fully visual
and fully verbal, a delight for the eye, ear, and mind.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
A hypertextual document based entirely on text printed on paper. (This is the
magic of the paper Internet. We decide what to do, we cannot change any
decision we make, the story unravels before us.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
PARE uh PARE uh DOCKSa seeming paradox —paraparadoxical, adj
{Since a paradox is a seeming contradiction, a
paraparadox is an actual contradiction that seems be a
seeming contradiction.}
Origin: < para- + paradox4/3/1988 -
The mind’s ability to find visual patterns and recognizable shapes where none
are intended. (Pareidolia is the mind’s way of finding patterns within chaos. In
a foreign place—even a foreign or visual text—we yearn for something we can
hold onto, so we invent it. This ability to perceive (or invent) patterns is why
we can see beasts floating in the sky as clouds and why we can find a knight
errant in a child’s scribble.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]9/2004 -
Glossary of standard words designed primarily for recreational use (see also
antidictionary, contradictionary, and neolexicon). (Josefa Heifetz Byrne
created her pataglossary, Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and
Preposterous Words, by presenting strange but “real” words with deadpan
definitions.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]5/2004 -
A micropress focused on documenting Geof Huth and Nancy Huth’s families
and creating mail art. (But my main interest is that exactly four pages worth
of text huddled together near the end of the book discuss my artistic work as
the publisher of dbqp and pdqb, two weird interrelated micropress operations
that opened for business in 1987 and 1989 respectively.)Origin: 19891989 -
fore1. the thing itself 2. that which is increased by being
given a metaphoric term to connote itselfOrigin: meioreducdancy of "metaphor" that invents a false sense of the root of the word2/20/1988 -
foe dih GRAAMFa photogram and photograph in oneOrigin: < photogram + photograph7/25/1988
-
FRAZE baounda word that is used in a language only as part of one or
two stock phrasesOrigin: < phrase + bound1991 -
FRAY zee oh SKWUURDa type of sqword that is a phrase (usually hyphenated)
presented as a single word (usually an adjective), such as
John Ciardi’s "one-time-only-and-never-again"Origin: < phrase(ology) + sqword (c.f.)7/5/1987 -
pmehstabsolutely everything; all of existence conceived as a
single unitOrigin: fr Shiyali Ranganathan’s five fundamental categories of everything: Personality, Matter, Energy, Space and Time12/01/1988 -
PO aan1. a poem used as a koan 2. that poem or section of a poem
that has the most resonance for an individual readerOrigin: < poem + koan1/23/1988 -
pohmt1. the poet and the poem as one 2. the poem seen as a part
of the poet 3. the poem in a situation (as in a reading or
performance) where the division between it and the poet is
less clear
Origin: < poem + poet3/18/1988 -
An art object consisting of a visual poem applied by Joel Lipman to the back
of an envelope via rubberstamping and usually distributed as a piece of mail
art; sobrepoema (Spanish). (And these poeMvelopes are wonders in small
packages. Joel is one of the masters of modern rubberstamping art, and he
can squeeze onto the back of a tiny envelope (size 6 or 6 ¾) amazing little
visual poems: tiny narratives, concrete poems, visual pwoermds, semi-
abstract wordart, miniature placard poems.)
Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
A visual poet’s control of the linguistic aspects of a visual poem. (A clear
exemplar of a visual poet most in control of the poet’s pen would be
Apollinaire, who is now a famous textual poet to most of us.) (Much of
today’s visual poetry functions beyond the world of words, so many consider
the poet’s pen irrelevant.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
PORT her man TOE fruh dih tickrelating to the combinination of two things into one,
especially if the things are opposites and hard to
combine —porthermanteauphrodite, n
Origin: < portmanteau + hermaphroditic12/12/1986 -
paa zih MISS tickpessimistic in a useful, positive (not destructive) wayOrigin: coined found word “possimistic”; intended etymology is < possitive + pessimistic1990
-
POST pro toe TORPan imagined event as it actually happens —postprototorpik,
adjOrigin: < post- + prototorp5/27/1987 -
PREM lipthe flap on the back of an envelope; one of the four major
divisions of the classical envelopeOrigin: < prem- (twisted fr "preliminary") + lip, but invented without any meaning and the meaning was discovered later11/14/1988 -
A deep understanding by a visual poet of the emotive and intellectual value of
the visual features of letters, numerals and numbers, grammalogues,
punctuation, diacritics, typefaces, and words. (I wonder if this great Cleveland
poet knew the significance of that form of the letter E, or if he picked up and
used the shape of the minuscule Greek e without even realizing it, just by
handling all that Greek text. Is it possible, that as a prolific visual poet, he
had so internalized the printer’s fist that he had internalized this bit of
arcana?) (Good control of the printer’s fist shows an understanding of the
shapes of letters and how those shapes affect meaning, shows the ability to
place text in expressive contexts, and shows an ability to choose letterforms
that deepen the meaning of the poem. Diter Roth—especially when he worked
with text alone, without any words at all—clearly exemplifies the poet of the
printer’s fist.)
Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]2/2004 -
PRO to torpthe first idea we have of how something is going to be, and
how perfect (or awful, etc.) that idea is in our minds (no
matter how different this idea is from the imminent
reality) —prototorpik, adjOrigin: < proto- + the reversal of proto-5/21/1987 -
SOO doh VEH rih nima pseudonym used as a de facto verinym by artists—as in
stage names and mailart names.Origin: < pseudo- + verinym1/26/1988 -
SIGH crow NISS ih teethe event of synchronic psyches; minds in synch; the
synchronicity of minds.Origin: < psychological + synchronicityca 1987 -
Visual poem created entirely or primarily of punctuation marks and other
closely related characters. (My favorite of his punctuation poems, entitled
“Where,”5 consists of eight pieces of punctuation: seven serpentine question
marks (each missing the underlying dot and, therefore, resembling the
symbol for a glottal stop) followed by a single complete question mark.)
(Most of these poems have few words, and the one above is a punctuation
poem, which doesn’t have any words at all.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
pwormssthe study of pwoermdsOrigin: < pwoermd + science06/12/1987
-
pwormdany one-word poem, such as Aram Saroyan’s famous "lighght"
or Jonathan Brannen's "pigeoneon"
{This word is a veritable pwoermd itself, since
the "pw" at its beginning mirrors the "md" at the end,
leaving the pseudo-archai-poetic "oer" in the middle of the
word.}
Origin: < poem + word (w/ the letters from each word alternated to produce the neologism)05/18/1987 -
pwormdta writer of pwoermdsOrigin: < pwoermd + poem06/17/1987
-
PWORM deepwoermds in general; the work or act of writing pwoermdsOrigin: < pwoermd + poesy11/12/1987
-
The attraction people feel concerning the shapes of particular letters of an
alphabet and the particular beauty of individual alphabetic characters. (What
we love about Qage is that it is so utterly foreign, that the shapes of its four
pieces are so weird and wonderful. What keeps us returning to Qage is that it
is totally familiar, that we know each of its letters like the lines within the
palms of our writing hands.) (First, it shows us that he knows something
about Qage, which is just about the first requirement we must make of a
visual poet. Qage is both the remarkable, yet usually restrained, beauty of
individual letters, and our recognition of the strangeness of the idea that
mere shapes of ink (or even pixels) can carry any meaning.) (Gaze chooses
the e because it is the ultimate letter of Qage; the minuscule e is so small and
cramped that it is the letter used when people want to verify the visual
reproduction of a text (if the top of the e fills with black, the reproduction is
inadequate).)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]9/2004 -
Poetry created by arranging magnetized words on a refrigerator. (The
prosodic constraint of refrigerator poetry is always the vocabulary at hand,
and I enjoy the challenge of trying to say something—anything—without the
benefit of my full vocabulary.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]12/2004 -
rih MEM or ee1. a memory of a memory 2. remembering remembering
1992 I cannot remember this (remembering instead
the effect of picture books upon my psyche & dream), but I
keep with me in the pocket of my mind a rubbed-smooth
amulet of a rememory: a towheaded toddler, kneeling, head
bowed, hands and nose against the rough pungent surface of
the newsprint, examining the pattern for meaning.
{From “Endwords,” postface to Things Constantly Moving
Against Electric Current, 2 Oct}
Origin: < re- + memory3/28/1988 -
rih MOR sil1. a small piece of remorse 2. slight remorse over a
misfortune one has causedOrigin: < remorse + morsel06/01/1992 -
REH pih tih TIH shuna specific type of spilleng which repeats syllables or
individual letters within a word --repetitit, vOrigin: fr reduplication within the word "repetition"06/26/1987 -
SAA miz NETthe informal, decentralized system of transmitting texts,
particularly jokes, over the InternetOrigin: < samizdat + Internet (after the pattern of Dale Robert’s "samisfax")05/1996 -
A fidgetglyph carved into the sand of a beach. (I want to create more of these
sandglyphs now because, it occurs to me, that practice might make me a
better glyphist.) (Snowglyphs suffer from some of the same problems as
sandglyphs: Impressions in the surface don’t necessarily show up well.)
(Sometime last year, I learned to create sandglyphs, small doodle-like visual
poems carved into the sand. A few days after my first creations, I decided to
try to photograph these small creations before the sea erased them.)
Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2004 -
The idea that a critic can make numerous factual mistakes about an artist’s
work yet still succeed in making valid points about that artist’s work. (After
reading this creative essay about me as an artist/publisher, I’ve developed
the Saper-Warp Hypothesis, which theorizes that a critic who writes about an
artist’s work is likely to make a number of factual errors, but that these won’t
necessarily undermine the points of the critic’s argument.) (Roger does make
a few tiny factual errors, but nothing that obscures meaning or misrepresents
an essential truth, so we learn that the Saper-Warp hypothesis still applies.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
shlaompfkthalternate spelling and pronunciation of "schlompfkt"Origin: designed to be longer than the original spelling, "schlompfkt"11/27/1987
-
shlampfktfiller language; any piece of language added to any other
piece of language for no purpose other than to expand the
latter’s length --having the quality of filler language,
adj --to use something as filler language; to use filler
language, v
{For example: the “mosquito” in “neato mosquito”
does not alter the meaning of the phrase. Many spillengs
and spronunciations also function in the same way but on a
smaller lever.}
Origin: coined to be the longest single-syllabled word possible, until an s is added to the end of it to make it plural11/14/1987 -
seemany small bit of meaning, not necessarily a piece of
languageOrigin: meioreducdancy of semiotic, suggesting semantic, semen, seem, & seam; later Huth discovered seme was over 100 years old06/23/1987 -
see mee OB ject1. any semiotic object 2. something more than just a word
as object; a thing with so much apparent or obvious
semiotic value that the meaning of the thing begins to
overcome the thing itself in the viewer’s mind, making it
seem only partly the object it is 3. an object-poem —
semiobjective, adjOrigin: < semiotic + object + semi- (half)05/18/1987 -
ses KWIG uh MISTa person who is married (but separated) from his or her
spouse yet living with another personOrigin: sesqui- + -gamist (as in polygamist)10/26/1987 -
seh vurr LAY shin1. breaking a word apart to suggest new words (by actually
adding a space inside the word or by adding some piece of
punctuation, usually a hyphen, there) 2. the severing of a
word to increase its possibility of meaning —severlate, vOrigin: < sever + several + -ation07/12/1987 -
slowthextreme lazinessOrigin: < slow + sloth, suggesting also lout02/01/1994
-
snih LEK trih sih teethe current felt on your teeth when you bite down on a
piece of tin (actually, aluminum) foil and the foil touches
your fillingsOrigin: < SN (the chemical symbol for tin) + electricity04/1985 -
A visual poetry created upon the surface of or carved into the snow.
(Snowglyphs suffer from some of the same problems as sandglyphs:
Impressions in the surface don’t necessarily show up well.) (I usually create
my snowglyphs during or right after a big snowfall, because then I have a
virginal sheet of snow to work upon. Today I created, out of twigs of maple
and lilac and gooseberry, a small glyph but a word in length.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2005 -
sfthaa zm1. a great spasm 2. a verbal spasm 3. a spasm of words 4.
a spasmic word (like sphthasm) —sphthasmic, adjOrigin: < phantasm + spasm, suggesting fantastic06/23/1987 -
spill ENG1. an outré spelling 2. outré spelling in general 3.
intentionally misspelling a word to gain a certain effect,
as in pwoermds or in words like divers (for diverse),
compleat (for complete), or uv (for of)Origin: fr an outré spelling of spelling04/1985 -
spill ENGSS1. the act or art of spilleng 2. the use of spillengOrigin: < spilleng + -ence11/17/1987
-
spruh NUHN see AY shun1. outré pronunciation 2. intended mispronunciation --
spronounce, vOrigin: fr a shortening of mispronunciation06/27/1987 -
skwerd1. a portmanteau word 2. any word invented by combining
two (or more) other words 3. one of the many different
types of sqwords: hyphe-sqword, imbricasqword, metasqword,
onsqword, sqwovernd, tmesqwordsisOrigin: < squished + word02/12/1987 -
SQUOH vuurnda sqword where the elements of the source words are woven
together instead of just being placed beside each other:
i.e., pwoermd and sqwoverndOrigin: < sqword + woven08/07/1987 -
Related to the punctuation marks and the use of same. (Serifs are but one
part of the skeleton of a letter that helps visual poets determine the visual
look of the verbal and stigmeological characters they use.) (By reading this
story, we were supposed to learn how to punctuate—to learn, specifically, a
new stigmeological skill: how to use quotation marks.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
swuurdan embelishment of a word that is used in the place of the
word itself: i.e., coinkidinky for coincidence (in this
case, a spronunciation of coincidence) or bumbazine for bum
(in this case, a schlaumpfkth enlargement of the original
word)Origin: < swerve + word06/29/1987 -
sin NAHT winan antonym, especially one that is not obviously oppositeOrigin: < synonym + not + twin04/17/1992
-
In a set of like items, that item least like the rest. (If you twist tangerine just
right, you end up with tangernine, a word I created in a dream. It is a
common word now in my family. I’ve come to the conclusion that my mind,
slowly rising into consciousness, created that word because I was a Tangerine
myself for almost a year.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2004 -
teck nuh LEDGE ick ullhaving a lot of understanding of a technological nature --
tecknowledgy, nOrigin: < knowledge + technological02/19/1986 -
A visual poem or other literary or semi-literary work that is intended to be
viewed and considered rather than read in a cursory manner. (The best are
wonderful textual objects of contemplation that use the arrangement of a few
words or letters to suggest more than they say. The best concrete poems
provide the reader a field upon which to create a thought, to consider a
possibility, to learn something unexpected.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]7/2004 -
Poetry consisting of words without any significant visual cotext. (Textual
poetry presents us with blocks of text that we must interpret before we can
hear and see their beauty, but visual poems exist on page or screen or stone,
and we love their shape before we love their sense.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
The three general esthetic features possible for any visual poem: beauty to
the eye, to the ear, and to the intellect. (It is uncommon for a visual poem to
demonstrate the three competences and prove the poet a master of three
modes, but it is almost unheard of for a visual poem (that mute beast of half-
literature) to exhibit the three beauties of visual poetry. Yet we cannot believe
that such visual poems are impossible.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2005 -
The cutting apart of a word to reveal additional meanings within it. <p>
additional info: (Tmesis appears frequently in contemporary poetry as a way
of increasing the semantic content of a single word. In this way, tmesis works
as a method of visual punning, a common technique of visual poets. Before I
knew the word tmesis (or at least before I thought of it as cutting without
filling), I used my own word for this technique: severlation.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
tmee SKWUURD siss1. tmetic sqwording 2. when a sqwording is made of one
word between the pieces of another word (i.e., G.
Huth’s "beonecoming," suggesting “becoming one,” “be one
coming,” and “bonebecoming”) --tmesqwordic, adjOrigin: < tmetic + sqword07/05/1987 -
trahz POH sisthe transposition of letters or syllables of a word to
invent a new word, the new word always carrying within it
the ghostly meaning of the parent wordOrigin: fr renonification of transposition11/30/1987 -
tsehmp1. absolutely nothing at all 2. nothing that exists in
time, space, energy, matter or personality 3. the total
absence of anythingOrigin: fr reversing the order of the letters in the word "pmest"12/14/1988 -
Poetry that depends on the arrangement of characters with a typewriter for its
effects. (Without knowledge of the world of typewriter poetry, Bob used
overtyping and meandering lines of typewritten text to shape his words and
texts.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]2/2005 -
tie puh GRAA muur1. the grammar of typewritering 2. the grammar of
gridspace --typogrammmatic, adjOrigin: < typo- + grammar10/11/1986 -
yoo ELL enna universal latent neologismOrigin: < universal latent neologism12/04/1996
-
1. lack of not again before undone after too much lack of
against not language-forming process state of being act of
doctrine adherent supporting state of being 2. in the
state of being an adherent to the state of being an
inventor of language, not having not again before after
having done too much against it 3. a vacillation between
wanting to form new language and not wanting to form new
language, because the language might begin to get away from
meaning
underunrepredepostoverantianalphabetingmentationalismistical
ityness
< under + un- + re- + pre- + de- + post- + over- + anti- +
an- + alphabet + -ing + -ment + -ation + -al + -ism + istic-
+ -al + -ity + -nessOrigin: < under + un- + re- + pre- + de- + post- + over- + anti- + an- + alphabet + -ing + -ment + -ation + -al + -ism + istic-1977-1987 -
uhn EH tik or you NET ikhaving no qualities
{A very important word to describe nothingness;
most people imagine nothingness as black or white, but
black and white are both qualities, and nothingness can
have no qualities.}
Origin: < un- (not) + etic02/1987 -
yoo nih LUH nizma neologism whose existence is always possible within the
language, especially if "discovered" independently by many
peopleOrigin: < shortening of "universal latent neologism"12/04/1996 -
yoo nih VUUR sill LAT int nee uh LUH gizma unilanismOrigin: phrasal coinage based on the meaning intended for the word12/04/1996
-
The point above which a graffiti artist cannot reach; that point on a wall
above the highest sprayed graffiti. (The urban browseline is the highest point
graffitists can get their spray cans to reach.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
Any artwork, including visual poetry, that depends on both verbal (textual)
and visual effects. (The other example of verbo-visual art—which I’ll call it
since it has more of a prose feel in spots—is a small leaflet entitled
Ruminations and created by John M. Bennett and Lucien Suel.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]12/2004 -
vuur BOH sin TAKSSstandard, verbal syntax --verbosyntactic, adjOrigin: < verbo- + syntax05/23/1987
-
VEHR ih NIHM1. a true name 2. a person’s actual name, especially when
it is a form of a name (like Madonna or Prince) used by a
person quite a bit as a pseudonymOrigin: < veri- (true) and nym (name)12/11/1987 -
vid dee OH uma poem for the videoscreen: these poems could be kinetic
computer poems transferred to video, a performance of a
poem, or some other videoimaging of a poemOrigin: < video + poem03/17/1988 -
vih dee OH eta poet who makes poems for the videoscreenOrigin: < video + poet03/18/1988
-
vih dee OH eh tree1. videoems in general 2. the act or writing of videoemsOrigin: < video + poetry01/29/1988
-
vih dee OH lahjcollage for the videoscreen--either kinetic-image or static-
image collageOrigin: < video + collage03/14/1988 -
vih JEH sih muh lizmthe fear of turning twenty and becoming an adultOrigin: vigesimal (based on the number 20) + -ism1980
-
vy ELL ih RAH dik1. violently erotic 2. erotically violentOrigin: < violent + erotic07/29/1989
-
A visual poem. (Number 5 beautifully reproduces the imaginative visual and
textual landscape of a Keithian vispoem.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]11/2004 -
Visual poetic advertising art. (In the kingdom of the visual poem, I include
most “vispoetic artion,” advertising art that appropriates the techniques of
visual poetry.) (The difference between visual poetry and vispoetic artion is
the difference between art and craft, between abstract art and applied art,
between creation and production, between light and dark.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2004 -
The visual element in a visual poem. (Visual cotext is not text at all but what
the eye makes of the text and the image that accompanies the text.) (This
cotext serves as an interlocutor for the text and might be an image (or
images) within the field of the visual poem. The visual cotext might also be
entirely integrated with the text itself.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
A pwoermd that depends on heightened visual form for its effects. (And now
he transforms wax, charcoal, and string into brief but haunting visual
pwoermds.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]1/2005 -
To add visual character to. (They are visualized scripts for a performance, so
tonight I performed them over the telephone and below are the results.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]4/2004 -
A poem with some esthetic visual features but of only moderate significance.
(The most visualized of the pages of the book is the sixth. Where the typeface
and the size of the text change for emphasis, only to be covered by
strikeouts.) (Second, the visual representations he used were a bit clumsy.
Too much visualization to too little purpose.) (The humming of the text in my
ears accounted for part of this attraction, but I was also entranced by the
visualized text, the way in which phrasal scraps Dickey almost broadcast
upon the page telegraphed meaning out to me in a manner that suggested
pauses, elisions, gaps.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]5/2004 -
wurdto produce with words through writing, drawing, filming, or
any other meansOrigin: fr the invention of a verb form of "word" from the noun form06/02/1990 -
WUURD istone who produces artworks with words through writing,
drawing, filming, or any other meansOrigin: the coinage word + -ist06/02/1990 -
WAW rays1. the customs regarded by a social group as being
detrimental to its preservation and welfare 2. customs
accepted as deviant by a group or community --wos,
singularOrigin: < the letter w (suggesting worry, wrong, wore, etc.) + mores03/09/1988 -
wohss1. a custom regarded by a social group as being detrimental
to its preservation and welfare 2. a custom accepted as
deviant by a group or communityOrigin: < mos (the singular form of "mores") + the coinage wores03/09/1988 -
wraugh1. to write a drawing 2. to draw a writingOrigin: < write + draw06/25/1988
-
wraughing1. a drawing of a writing 2. a written drawing 3. a
drawn writing 4. a visual merging of word and image 5. a
visual gestalt half-word and half-drawingOrigin: < writing + drawing06/02/1988 -
A photocopy. (I have original photographs of a few of these, so I’m usually
disappointed with their reproduction as xerographs.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]5/2004 -
The transformation of images through the use of photocopying. (But those
two little words led me to think about xerographic transmogrification, or the
particular features of generational degeneration and other effects that are
possible only through the magic of a photocopier.)Origin: [dbqp: visualizing poetics]3/2004 -
zih ZIKSverbally or visually patterned language (such as crossword
puzzles, word squares, and many concrete and sound poems)
where the pattern is not determined on the basis of
verbosyntax --zyxyzm, n --zyxyztyk, adj
{See bdbd.}
Origin: letter-pattern coinage05/21/1987