Thursday, November 16, 2017

John Bennett - Seven text and visual poems





John M. Bennett has published, exhibited and performed his word art worldwide in thousands of publications and venues. He was editor and publisher of LOST AND FOUND TIMES (1975-2005), and is Curator of the Avant Writing Collection at The Ohio State University Libraries. Richard Kostelanetz has called him “the seminal American poet of my generation”. His work, publications, and papers are collected in several major institutions, including Washington University (St. Louis), SUNY Buffalo, The Ohio State University, The Museum of Modern Art, and other major libraries. His PhD (UCLA 1970) is in Latin American Literature.




***
1
troot

c  omb  o
reGARdless
spEND





 ***
2
outer flood

bean peel ,been a head a
knot deflate uh SEEPAGE
FLAG whipping off your
face or meaty hat your
BOILER TONGUE your
gushing sausage thumps
the dryer name the “thought”
)“cawed”(  said a leak upon
the tree your switchback
set on fire  .bring a lip b
ring a tweezers holds the
ssmoke folder crinkly
in your pocket where the
twitchy hamsters slept
lurch an dung an hole an cod







***
Leg and Eye

If eye when yes
or no ne ver was then
that didn't feel good but
it was hot at least
scratchy toast and
fog wall behind the
dumpster with a bite of leg


Stacey Allam & John M. Bennett  2017





 ***
4.
wh EEZE

I sw ORE
off fLAME
faucet drINK
would only
A   I   R   E






***
 5.
rain dress

HOP  f  LAP  in
animation bulinking
slslowly from a P
IT you k now all right
don't see it it's
CORn's tamal o W
ORM ON FIRE your p
late squirms beneath
your chair's HOT HAT
off half sugar sp
arkly in the laundry
room don't see but
SEE what crumbles
in the rainless cycle

merienda circular



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6



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7