Anomalous Parlance (2000)

Introductions and incomplete bibliography written for the Anomalous Parlance series I organized at the Kootenay School of Writing in 2000.


sprawled here pondering / law and order

– Phyllis Webb


> Melissa Wolsak, Pen Chants & An Heuristic Prolusion (February 27, 2000).

Welcome to Anomalous Parlance at the Kootenay School of Writing. I’m Aaron Vidaver, member of the KSW collective & curator for the series. This afternoon Melissa Wolsak will read Pen Chants, we’ll take a 20 minute break, then return for An Heuristic Prolusion. First, a remark on the series as a whole. If ontology is the luxury of the landed, what is the necessity of the nomadic? In one of Warren Tallman’s letters to Robin Blaser he suggested that the New American Poets each demanded a cult of readers, because each poetry proposed a world requiring domestic inhabitation. The 6, 7, or 8 poetries in this series permit squatting only: perfect hide-outs from the authorities. They’re anomalous not in the sense of being abnormal (a psychological notion), but in their uncomfortability to common orders. They’re lawless, but not uniformly so. The word “parlance”, however, strikes me more deeply than ‘anomalous’ – it points to a conference to discuss terms, a conference that I hope will arise. Let’s defer the problem of specifying this writing as a poetics of _______, to prevent vaccination against the work itself. What seduced me in The Garcia Family Co-Mercy was the vocabulary, the rescue of diction – as a rescue of lost words & their rendition in song. It’s this vigilance that carries on through Pen Chants, even as the phrase comes to dominate &, by the end, even the sentence. Movement, but not at any cost: no violence. You see, the invisible is fragile, but resilient.


> Catriona Strang & Nancy Shaw, Busted (March 26, 2000).

Last month I spoke of the writing in this series as unlivable because of its refusal to “propose worlds” for inhabitation by readers. At this juncture I’d like to reaffirm that proposal, but deny the chief consequence I drew from it then – that these writings permit squatting. Squatting is, naturally, a type of inhabitation, usually temporary because almost always a violation of law. This trope of the reader as nomadic, as one of you pointed out, easily transmogrifies into a trope of the reader as tourist. So let’s not go there. Instead, let’s read Busted. This manuscript, as you’ll hear, consists of a series of unusual bulletins on various topics – unusual not because of their topicality, but because of the proliferation of interrogatives over imperatives – a series of bulletins embedded in a sequence which our press release describes as “counter-lyrics, irruptive shuffles, logos-liquidating flags & polyespistemic assays” – a phrase the Vancouver Sun translated as “spoken word”, with typical violence. So, not busted in the sense of unfortunately broken & in need of fixing up, but busted in the sense of caught in the act, arrested and taken prisoner. Not the politics of reform, but the politics of reference.


> Lisa Robertson, The Weather & “What’s Didactic?” (April 29/30, 2000).

(a) Welcome again to Anomalous Parlance. I’d planned to preamble tonight’s writing, The Weather, by Lisa Robertson, with a brief discussion of the place of the pronoun “we” in it. But since I’ll be introducing Lisa’s talk tomorrow, I think I’ll save “we” for then – perhaps some of you can help with out with this later tonight. So, by way of introduction I offer two quotations. The first is from a statement by Lisa published last year in a special issue of the journal boundary2 called 99 Poets 1999 An International Poetics Symposium. The second is from Ernst Bloch, in conversation with Theodor W. Adorno:

I believe writing is utopian, as curiosity is utopian, as plural pronouns and cities are utopian, even though the singular world is not and I believe equally that utopia is a discipline. It is going along. It is the interval of “if” attended and extended into material choice. For me the poem can only ever be this timely ambivalence, this artificial now, gesture given. Given.

There is no such thing as utopia without multiple goals. In a non-teleological world there is no such thing. Mechanical materialism can have no utopia. Everything is present in it, mechanical present. Thus, the fact that there is such a sensitivity about an ‘it-should-be’ demonstrates that there is also utopia in this area where it has the most difficulty, and I believe, Teddy, that we are certainly in agreement here: the essential function of utopia is a critique of what is present. If we had not already gone beyond the barriers, we could not even perceive them as barriers.

The Weather.

(b) Welcome to the Kootenay School of Writing & Charles Watts Memorial Library. I’m Aaron Vidaver, curator of this series called Anomalous Parlance, for those of you who I haven’t met yet. Today’s talk is not on the ideology of weather as the first of my press releases claimed. It’s entitled “What’s Didactic? Autonomies of Description, or, an Oblique Gloss on the Weather”. Since I was forbidden from previewing the essay, there’s not much I can say about it directly, so I thought a bit about the words in the title, wondering which ones are the most inflammatory. Naturally, it’s the prepositions – “of” and “on” – which specify relations. But reading more carefully it was the word “description” that seemed and seems to be the heaviest and most unlikely of words to appear in the title, almost shocking, since the hostility towards description in poetry has been a commonplace in Vancouver writing for the past 40 years. So, it’s curious & I suspect we’re going to hear some kind of a recuperation or rescue of description as a technique in the service of a project of refurbishing our politic of language. I’ve selected another quotation, for emphasis. It’s the concluding paragraph from a review of Peter Culley’s The Climax Forest, written by Lisa for American Book Review in 1998:

The cozy identity tropes of federalist nationalism, the skewed economy of the North American “Free Trade” myth, the conflicting aesthetics of tiny avant garde cultural practices within the mass market of entertainment: What is the relation of periphery to centre? A Canadian writes at the uncertain margins of huge American machinations, at the far end of Britain’s long project, at the blurring of Asian and western, at the crumbling of the lesser dollar – and the position is both defensive and complicit, in the sense that the persona is implicated, enfolded, in a political context that rankles even as it enables. Each margin needs, so produces, its own image of the center, of power. The most acutely disruptive poetics yearn for, as they demote, the comfort and tenure of the broad audience. Sullen mavericks cherish their trophies. With mineral phonemes, Culley’s poems show importantly that this cultural decadence, this precarious balancing, this tender hybridity “of near bile lodged in what humour” is in fact the middle, and is description.


> Susan Clark, Bad Infinity & as lit x (May 28, 2000).

Hi. Welcome back to Anomalous Parlance. Today, as I’m sure you’re aware, Susan Clark will be reading a selection from Bad Infinity & presenting a talk called as lit x. Bad Infinity is the most recent in a series of projects started some time before 1985 but which may not exist. These include The Round, an encyclopedia project (Book 1 appeared in 1989 as Believing in the World: a reference work), Suck Glow, which was almost published with the first article of Theatre of the New World of the Time, “The Topics of Mental Life”, in the mid-90s, and the sequence Mutability Lyrics, read at KSW but also unpublished. I don’t mean to suggest that these projects are non-existent because most of these manuscripts are not in print. I mean to say that they may not exist because they are made impossible by the writing that arises out of each of them. And if they are impossible, they surely cannot exist. To introduce Tied to a Post, the section from Bad Infinity that Susan is reading today, I hope, I have a paragraph from an e-mail correspondence with her earlier in the year. It’s helpful.

I want to make myself a language that will produce a kind of (liberatory) hysteria at the level of the individual reader. A kind of insoluble but seductive fusion generated solely by syntax (staircases to nowhere and maximum slippage at every level); and find a way to use this both to reconsider the sublime/transcendent which is not going away and to illustrate and cogitate on the possible place of the person in the overload – the ‘paper blizzards’ and counter-intuitive procedures and logics – of global politics and macroeconomics. And of course try to understand gendering in all of this and terrorism in the nomad/state binary and the role of the inherent abjection-reflex which seems to me a part of the Deleuze/Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus guess that we at some level wish to be enslaved.

To be tied to a post, then, our bodies, sure, but moreso our being to an afterwards. To serve regulated time and be constituted, thus to exist, post-.


> Christine Stewart, “Taxonomy & Etc.” (June 25, 2000).
Hello everyone. Welcome to Anomalous Parlance: the final reading & talk in this series at KSW. This afternoon Christine Stewart shall read Taxonomy and present a talk on the three previous talks in the series: An Heuristic Prolusion by Melissa Wolsak, “What’s Didactic?” by Lisa Robertson, and as lit x by Susan Clark. Each should take 20 minutes. It strikes me, from the extremely brief segments I’ve read, that Taxonomy may be fruitfully studied (once it’s published) beside Susan Clark’s Believing in the World and Lisa Robertson’s The Apothecary. While Believing in the World proceeds semi-topically to build a counter-encyclopedia and The Apothecary drifts through a dictionary-structure en route, it its lyrical dispensations, Stewart’s Taxonomy illustrates a set of concepts—animal, vegetable, mineral, space, time, species, and phylum—first by a visual instantiation, then by a declarative sentence embodying a proposition of the for x is y (or at least appearing to embody this type of proposition), then by elaboration & comparison with the other concepts in the set. I recommend listening closely for the absence of general laws. Taxonomy.


...



Anomalous Parlance: An Enumerative Bibliography (incomplete)


>> Susan Clark

Believing in the World: a reference work. Vancouver: Tsunami Editions, 1989.

“from Believing in the World.” Writing 16 (October 1986): 30-32. [pp. 13-19 draft]

“from Believing in the World.” Malahat Review 73 (January 1986).

“dear Ccc & cie, / Re: the psychogeography known as RADDLE MOON.” Sulphur 44 (1999): 189-193.

Excess Flesh. [artist’s book]. 1993.

Gether – from ‘the Agglomerative,’ a classifying section of Bad Infinity.The Gig 3 (1999): 30-37.

“hyster.pom.” West Coast Line 24 (Spring/Summer 1998): 15-17.

“’I want someone to say what you say.’…” [with Lisa Robertson & Catriona Strang]. Chain 1 (Spring/Summer 1994): 29.

Impossibility - Exhilirates - Who tastes it: syntactic and epistemological aporia as radical poetic apparatus in Emily Dickinson's poetry. Burnaby: Simon Fraser University (M.A. Thesis), 1995.

Melancholie. [artist’s book]. 1995.

Mid-Ocean. [installation, Fondation Royaumont, France]. 1995.

“from ‘Not not’.” West Coast Line 24:1 (Spring 1990): 76-81.

Suck Glow (forthcoming)

“from Suck Glow.” Motel 3 (Summer 1990): 8-14.

Theatre of the New World of the Time (forthcoming)

“The Topics of Mental Life” and “Topic or Character or Situation” 1-6. Avec 7 (1994): 94-99.

“Topic or Character or Situation” 7; 10-11. Exact Change Yearbook. Boston and Manchester: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 112-115.

Tied to a Post: an essay in abstraction (forthcoming)

“from Tied to a Post.” Raddle Moon 17: 148-150.

“six excerpts from Tied to a Post: an essay in abstraction.” Matrix 50 (1997): 55-56.

“To see, or Theory.” Raddle Moon 13: 34-43.

“To Wound, To Wind.” Chain 1 (Spring/Summer 1994): 275-277; reprinted in Subtext (1996).

Editor, Raddle Moon 1-18 (1983-present).

Editor, Sprang Texts 1-6 (1992-1994).

Editor, with Lisa Robertson & Christine Stewart, Giantess: the organ of the New Abjectionists (1995).


>> Lisa Robertson

“Another Drink for Modernism.” [on Susan Howe, Peirce Arrow & Barbara Guest] Stand Magazine (Winter 2000).

The Apothecary. Vancouver:Tsunami Editions, 1991.

“from Parts,” Raddle Moon 8 (1989): 61-69. [pp. 8-16]

“from The Apothecary,” Writing 25 (1990): 60-63. [pp.17-22 draft]

“from The Apothecary,” Writing Class: The Kootenay School of Writing Anthology. Ed. Andrew Klobucar and Michael Barnholden. Vancouver: New Star Books, 1999: 104-107. [pp.1-7]

The Badge. Hamilton: The Berkeley Horse/MindWare, 1994; reprinted in Tessera 19 (Winter 1995): 82-83.

“Portrait of Vivian Westwood.” Barscheit 3 (1992): 3.

“Barscheit Nation.” [with Christine Stewart & Catriona Strang]. Barscheit 4 (1993); reprinted in Mirage#4/Period(ical) 14 (March 1993); Writing from the New Coast: Technique. Providence: O·blēk editions, 1993: 185; and Semiotext(e) Canadas. New York: Semiotext(e), 1994: 90.

“Benched Art: Negotiating the Rhetorics of Taste.” Parallelogramme (1995).

“Beneath The Pavilions.” Mix: April 1997-January 1999.

“Loose Edges: Marketing Artist-Run Chic.” (Spring 1997): 58-60.

“Good Grooming: Safde’s VPL.” (Summer 1997): 39-41.

“Modern Western.” (Fall 1997): 39-41.

“Dry Rot: Modernism’s new eco-rhetoric.” (Winter 1997/1998): 35-37.

“Bachelor Machine (autoironic).” (Spring 1998): 33-35.

“Visitations: City of Ziggurats.” (Summer 1998): 33-35.

“Pure Surface: Remembering the Suburb.” (Fall 1998): 33-34.

“Board Story.” (Winter 1998/1999): 25-27.

“Canadian Emergency” interview with Shelagh Rogers. [with Jeff Derksen, Catriona Strang & Nancy Shaw]. The Arts Tonight. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 24, 1994.

“Coasting.” [with Jeff Derksen, Catriona Strang & Nancy Shaw]. A Poetics of Criticism. Ed. Juliana Spahr, Mark Wallace, Kristin Prevellet, Pam Rehm. Buffalo: Leave Books, 1994: 301-303; reprinted in Open Letter 9:3 (1995): 74-77.

“A Conversation: Sunday May 18, East Pender, with Maxine Gadd and Rhoda Rosenfeld.” [with Catriona Strang]. Front magazine 3:6 (July/August 1992): 8-11.

“A Convivial Soil : The Arts and Crafts in Burnaby.” Collapse (forthcoming)

Debbie: an epic. Vancouver and London: New Star Books and Reality Street Editions, 1997.

“Battle Scene: from Debbie.” Critical Quarterly 38:3 (1996): 64-65. [lines 509-581 draft]

“Debbie’s Folly” and “How to Judge.” Parataxis 8/9 (1994).

The Descent: a light comedy in three parts including Three Decorative Inscriptions & a Toast. Buffalo, NY: Meow Press, 1996. [lines 197-256 draft; screens; “Warning to the Reader”]

“Earth Monies.” (broadside, lounge, 1995). [lines 257-303; 725-739 draft]

“Exordium” and “A Small Toast.” The Capilano Review 2:17-18 (Winter/Spring 1996): 148-151. [lines 61-107; 384 nt.]

“Her Virgil (Fragments Towards an Entertainment),” “How to Judge,” and “Debbie’s Folly.” Exact Change Yearbook. Ed. Peter Gizzi. Boston and London: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 129-132. [lines 154-196 draft; appendix; stanzas from XEclogue rev. ed.]

“Exordium” and “How to Judge,” Out of Everywhere: linguistically innovative poetry by women in North America and the UK. London: Reality Street Editions, 1996: 174-181. [lines 61-107; 154-196]

“Party Scene: From Debbie.” A Brief Description of the Whole World 2 (1997).

“(the sad parts).” The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 2 (June 1997). . [lines 371-481; 497-508 draft]

“Screens: From Debbie.” Proliferation 4 (1997).

“two excerpts from Debbie: an epic.” Matrix 50 (1997): 44-46. [lines 257-279; 655-685 draft]

“The Device.” Hole 6 (1996): 1-5; reprinted in The East Village Poetry Web 4 (1998). .

“Essay on Place, etc.” Sulfur 44 (Spring 1999).

“Flesh Thefts: Poaching in Popular Culture.” Parallelogramme 18:4 (1993): 32-39.

“A Flock of What Resonates: Peter Culley’s Climax Forest.” American Book Review 19: 2 (January/February 1998).

“from the office for Soft Architecture.” Front magazine (December 1999/January 2000/February 2000/March-April 2000).

“’I want someone to say what you say.’…” [with Susan Clark & Catriona Strang]. Chain 1 (Spring/Summer 1994): 29.

“If We.” 99 Poets 1999: An International Poetics Symposium. Ed. Charles Bernstein. Duke University Press, 1999.

“Gary Hill Performance Review.” Subtext (1997): .

“The Glove: an Essay on Interruption.” Vancouver: University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, 1991.

“Index A: Lyric or Prohibitive.” Chain 3 (1996).

“Island to City: A BC Landscape.” The Stranger (Seattle) September 4, 1998.

“Lucy Hogg: Painting.” [catalogue essay]. Campbell River: Campbell River Art Gallery, 2000.

“Lurch.” [review of Kelly Wood exhibition]. C Magazine 30 (1991): 49-51.

Manifeste pour une Architecture Douce / Soft Architecture: A Manifesto. Vancouver and Montréal: Artspeak Gallery and Dazibao, centre de photographies actuelles, 1999.

“My Eighteenth Century.” Assembling Alternatives. Ed. Romana Huk. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1999.

“Peace in Earth.” [on Eben Ezer]. Nest: a magazine of interiors (Fall 1999).

“Phatic.” Giantess 1 (1995); reprinted in Parallel 2 (1995): .

“Pink Cotton: A Novel (Voice over for Kathy Slade’s video: Enamouration).” The British Columbia Monthly 42 (August 1990): 1-2.

“Pleasure Components.” Stand 1:1 New Series (March 1999): 107-108.

“Porchverse.” Raddle Moon 17 (1998): 100-104.

“Primitivera Perturb.” [with Christine Stewart]. Big Allis 8 (1998): 77-83.

“Private Addresses.” [broadside]. Vancouver: Association for Noncommercial Culture, 1991; reprinted with french translation by Yolande Villemaire in Estuaire (1995).

“Pure Surface.” West Coast Line 29 (Fall 1999): 45-48.

“Rousseau at Burnaby.” [exhibition catalogue for Interventions: Anne Ramsden and Renee Van Helm]. Burnaby: Burnaby Art Gallery, 1996.

“School of Fish.” [review of Eileen Myles]. The Stranger (Seattle): December 11, 1997.

“Sexy Girls: Susan Edelstein, Yoko Takashima, Mina Totino, Jonathon Wellman, Judy Radul.” [catalogue essay]. Vancouver: Charles H. Scott Gallery, 2000.

Skinflick and Secret Origins. [exhibition catalogue for Clare Gomez Edington & Patrick Mahon]. Vancouver: Or Gallery, 1992.

“A Sunday Drive.” [with Nancy Shaw]. Beneath the Paving Stones. Vancouver: Charles H. Scott Gallery, 1993: 5-16.

Their Senses Transported. [exhibition catalogue for Sara Leydon, Conviction]. Vancouver: Artspeak Gallery, 1990.

from The Weather: Wednesday.” W 1 (Spring 2000): 13-23.

XEclogue. Vancouver: Tsunami Editions, 1993; revised edition, Vancouver: New Star Books, 1999.

“Commentary.” The Capilano Review 2:11 (Summer 1993): 95-98.

Eclogue One: Honour.” The Capilano Review 2:11 (Summer 1993): 99-106; reprinted in Writing Class, 110-116.

“Eclogues IV & V.” Moving Borders: Three Decades of Innovative Writing by Women. Ed. Mary Margaret Sloane. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1998.

“Eclogues III & IV.” The Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry 1993- 1994. Ed. Douglas Messerli. Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1995.

“from Xeclogue.” Front magazine (July/August 1991): 14-15.

“How Pastoral: A Manifesto.” The Capilano Review 2:11 (Summer 1993): 93-94; reprinted in A Poetics of Criticism, 277-280 and Writing Class, 108-109.

Xeclogue: II-V. Vancouver: Sprang Texts, 1993.

“XEclogue III-V.” Raddle Moon 12: 62-69.

“XEclogue VIII & IX.” West Coast Line 27:2 (Fall 1993): 20-25.

Co-editor, Raddle Moon (1994-1998).

Editor, with Christine Stewart & Catriona Strang, Barscheit 1-4 (1990-1993).

Editor, with Susan Clark & Christine Stewart, Giantess: the organ of the New Abjectionists (1995).

Guest editor, with Miriam Nichols & Larry Bremner, West Coast Line 24:1 (Spring 1990). “The New Vancouver Writing Issue.”

Poetry editor, Front magazine (1990-1993).

>> Nancy Shaw

Affordable Tedium. Vancouver: Tsunami Editions, 1987.

“Beautiful Skin.” [on Corrine Carlson & Erin O’Brien]. Vanguard 18:1 (February/March 1989): 36.

“Between Times.” Pam Hall: The Coil. St. Johns: Memorial University Art Gallery, 1993.

“Blind to the Part.” East of Main. Ed. Calvin Wharton & Tom Wayman. Vancouver: Pulp, 1991: 139-143.

Busted. [with Catriona Strang]. Toronto: ECW Press, 2000. (forthcoming)

“Bulletin 1: History,” “Bulletin 2: Government,” “Bulletin 3: Culture.” Matrix 50 (1997): 47-48.

“from Busted.” Raddle Moon 17 (1998): 44-60.

“Canadian Emergency” interview with Shelagh Rogers. [with Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson & Catriona Strang]. The Arts Tonight. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 24, 1994.

“Coasting.” [with Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson & Catriona Strang]. A Poetics of Criticism. Ed. Juliana Spahr, Mark Wallace, Kristin Prevellet, Pam Rehm. Buffalo: Leave Books, 1994: 301-303; reprinted in Open Letter 9:3 (1995): 74-77.

“Cold Storage.” [on Mina Totino]. Parachute 55 (July/August/September 1989): 50-51.

“Cornelia Wyngaarden.” Fuse 5/6 (Summer 1993): 53-54.

“Cultural Democracy and Institutionalized Difference: Early Video in Vancouver.” Mirror Machines: Video and Identity. Ed. Janine Marchessault. Toronto and Montréal: YYZ and Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, 1995.

“D.” [with Catriona Strang]. Avec 10 (1995): 107-114.

“Dear M.” Barscheit 4 (1993).

“The Delicate Double.” [on Christine Davis]. Vanguard 18:2 (April/May 1989): 38.

“Expanded Consciousness and Company Types: Artist Writer Collaborations in Vancouver Since Intermedia and the N.E. Thing Company.” The Vancouver Anthology: The Institutional Politics of Art. Ed. Stan Douglas. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1991: 85-103; reprinted in Parallelogramme (Winter 1992).

“Flags.” Open Letter 10: 1 (Winter 1998): passim.

“Four Poems.” [with Catriona Strang]. Rhizome 1 (1997).

Fragile Electrons: Twenty Years of Collecting Video Art at the National Gallery of Canada.” Parachute (December/January/February 1998).

“Fraught Bodies or Love in the Lurch: the Photomontage of Kelly Wood.” Lurch. Vancouver: Western Front, 1991.

“Hair in Knot: Mina Totino’s Riddling Logic.” Cover, Girls. Calgary: Truck Gallery, 1991.

Hard to Read. [with Stan Denniston]. North Vancouver: Presentation House Gallery, 1988.

“The Idea File of Contingency.” [with Catriona Strang]. Open Letter 10: 1 (Winter 1998): 34-36.

The Institute Songbook: Choral Works for Voice and Torch Songs. [with Catriona Strang & Monika Kin Gagnon]. Vancouver: The Institute, 1995.

“Interviewing Interviewing.” [with Catriona Strang]. Interview by Dean Irvine & Ian Samuels. Filling Station 5: 8-12.

“Inventing the Virtual Museum: Art and Interactivity.” Parachute 84 (October-December 1996): 30-35.

“Kootenay School of Writing: A School in Exile.” The Peak (Simon Fraser University). September 20, 1984: 14-15.

“Lending, Borrowing and Renewing: The Library and New Information Spaces.” Cultural Institutions / Instituting Culture. Montréal: McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, 1995.

“A Letter to Lady M.” RX: Let’s Play Doctor. Vancouver: Artspeak Gallery, 1993.

“The Lull Before the Storm.” [on Sarah Diamond]. Parachute 62 (March, April, May 1991): 44-45.

“Luxury.” [on Mark Lewis]. C Magazine 19 (Fall 1988): 38-39.

“Marshall McLuhan, New Media and Artistic Practice.” New Readings of McLuhan in Critical, Cultural and Postmodern Theories. Ed. Paul Grosswiler. Chicago: Chicago University Press (forthcoming).

“Melo-Anthem,” “Anthem House,” “Anthem Nation,” Post-Anthem,” and “I Don’t Feel at Liberty.” Exact Change Yearbook 1. Boston and Manchester: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 105-107.

Modern Art, Media Pedagogy, and Cultural Citizenship: The Museum of Modern Arts Television Project, 1952-1955. Montréal: McGill University (PhD Dissertation), 2000.

The New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver, 1938-1963 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal.” Parachute 88 (October/November/December 1997): 58-59.

“On a Trumped-Up Charge: Two Video-Films.” [on Stuart Marshall & John Greyson]. Vanguard 18:3 (Summer 1989): 20-25.

“Poetic Conduct: Mount Royal’s Moral Order.” Cultures of the City: Essays in the History, Space and Identity of Montréal. Eds. Nancy Shaw and Aurora Wallace. Montréal: Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions, 1998.

“Poetic Statement.” [letter to Kevin Killian]. Writing From the New Coast: Technique. Providence: O·blēk editions, 1993: 88-91.

“Prairie Cityscapes.” Urban History Review 24:1(October 1995): 53-54.

“Recent Writing about Marshall McLuhan.” Canadian Journal of Communication 24:4 (Winter 1999).

Scoptocratic. Toronto: ECW Press, 1992.

“Close to Naked.” [with Gerald Creede]. Writing 23/24 (1989) 18-22; reprinted in Gerald Creede, Ambit (Tsunami Editions, 1993): 53-59. [pp. 70-76]

“Hair in a Knot,” “In Doubt a Rose is Grotesque Thing” & “The Illusion Did Not Last.” Writing Class: The Kootenay School of Writing Anthology. Ed. Andrew Klobucar and Michael Barnholden. Vancouver: New Star Books, 1999: 163-174. [pp. 38-49]

“The Illusion Did Not Last” & “Dear M.” The Last Word: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poetry. Ed. Michael Holmes. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 1995: 54-56. [pp. 14, 48-49]

“from Scoptocratic.” West Coast Line 24:1 (Spring 1990): 36-44. [pp. 44-47 draft]

“from Scoptocratic.” Motel 2 (Spring 1990): 8-12. [pp. 44-47 draft]

“from Scoptocratic.” Avec 7 (Fall 1991): [nb: not #7!]

“from Scoptocratic.” Writing 26 (1991): 25-37. [pp. 78-90 draft]

“Stills for Scoptocratic.” West Coast Line 24:3 (Winter 1990): 38-43.

“Site, Stake, Struggle: Stan Douglas’s Win , Place or Show.” [with Sianne Ngai]. Stan Douglas / Douglas Gordon. New York: DIA Art Foundation, 1999.

“Siting the Banal: The Expanded Landscapes of the N.E. Thing Company.” You Are Now in the Middle of an N.E. Thing Co. Landscape. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, 1993.

“Six Poems.” Open Letter 10:5 (Spring 1999): 30-32.

“A Sunday Drive.” [with Lisa Robertson]. Beneath the Paving Stones. Vancouver: Charles H. Scott Gallery, 1993: 5-16.

“Time Codes: Recent Takes in Feminist Video.” The Contested Space of Alternative Video: Video In 1973-1994. Vancouver: Video In, 1998.

“Ubliquitous as Grass: The Lawn and Suburb in The American Century.” Mix (Fall 1998): 35-39.

“from Urban Ledge.” Big Allis (Fall 1999).

“Virtual Nation: Jacques Greber’s National Capital Plan.” Driving the Ceremonial Landscape. Ottawa: Gallery 101, 1997.

West Coast Style: Western Homes and Lifestyles in Canada, 1945-95. Montréal: McGill University (M.A. Thesis), 1995.

Editor, with Jeff Derksen, Writing (1986-1993).


>> Christine Stewart

“Agora.” Front magazine (Summer 1990): 30.

“Au Coeur du Litige.” [notes for audio disc Au Coeur du Litige by François Houle. Spool, 2000.

The Barscheit Horse. [with Lisa Robertson & Catriona Strang]. The Berkeley Horse 49 (December 1993); reprinted in Exact Change Yearbook. Boston and Manchester: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 123.

“Barscheit Nation.” [with Lisa Robertson & Catriona Strang]. Barscheit 4 (1993); reprinted in Mirage#4/Period(ical) 14 (March 1993); Writing from the New Coast: Technique. Providence: O·blēk editions, 1993: 185; and Semiotext(e) Canadas. New York: Semiotext(e), 1994: 90.

“Clamorous.” The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 1(December 1996).

; reprinted in Raddle Moon 17 (1998): 5-9.

“Jack.” Raddle Moon 18 (2000).

Nightwood: Nightwood. Vancouver: University of British Columbia (M.A. Thesis), 1996.

“Primitivera Perturb.” [with Lisa Robertson]. Big Allis 8 (1998): 77-83.

“two excerpts from St. Augustine.” Matrix 50 (1997): 52-53.

Taxonomy (forthcoming)

“from Taxonomy. Raddle Moon 13 (1993); reprinted in Exact Change Yearbook. Boston and Manchester: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 127-128; and Gertrude Stein Awards In Innovative American Poetry 1994-1995. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon, 1996: 74-76.

“Biographia.” The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 1 (December 1996). ; reprinted in Raddle Moon 17 (1998): 10-16.

“A Travel Narrative.” Barscheit 3 (January 1992): 13-17; reprinted in The Berkeley Horse 53 (June 1994).

“Virtualis.” [with David Dowker]. The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 2 (June 1997) .

Editor, with Catriona Strang & Lisa Robertson, Barscheit 1-4 (1990-1993).

Editor, with Lisa Robertson & Susan Clark, Giantess: the organ of the New Abjectionists (1995).


>> Catriona Strang

“And Spear Impunge.” [text for violin, clarinet and voice composition And Spear Impunge by Jacqueline Leggatt]. Vancouver, March 1999.

“Any Terrain Tumultuous.” [notes for audio disc Any Terrain Tumultuous by François Houle & Marilyn Crispell]. Montréal: Red Toucan, 1995.

The Barscheit Horse. [with Lisa Robertson & Christine Stewart]. The Berkeley Horse 49 (December 1993); reprinted in Exact Change Yearbook. Boston and Manchester: Exact Change and Carcanet, 1995: 123.

“Barscheit Nation.” [with Lisa Robertson & Christine Stewart]. Barscheit 4 (1993); reprinted in Mirage#4/Period(ical) 14 (March 1993); Writing from the New Coast: Technique. Providence: O·blēk editions, 1993: 185; and Semiotext(e) Canadas. New York: Semiotext(e), 1994: 90.

“Broil” and “Rag.” [with François Houle]. Subtext (1996). .

Busted. [with Nancy Shaw]. Toronto: ECW Press, 2000. (forthcoming)

“Bulletin 1: History,” “Bulletin 2: Government,” “Bulletin 3: Culture.” Matrix 50 (1997): 47-48.

“from Busted.” Raddle Moon 17 (1998): 44-60.

“Canadian Emergency” interview with Shelagh Rogers. [with Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson & Nancy Shaw]. The Arts Tonight. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, February 24, 1994.

Circular Body (L’s Songs). Toronto: PUSHYbroadsides, 1994.

The Clamourous Alphabet. [with François Houle]. Seattle: Periplum, 1999. [audio disc]

“from The Clamourous Alphabet.” Sulfur 44 (Spring 1999).

“R & B for Robin Blaser.” The Capliano Review 2:17/18 (Winter/Spring 1996): 172-181.

“Coasting.” [with Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson & Nancy Shaw]. A Poetics of Criticism. Ed. Juliana Spahr, Mark Wallace, Kristin Prevellet, Pam Rehm. Buffalo: Leave Books, 1994: 301-303; reprinted in Open Letter 9:3 (1995): 74-77.

“A Conversation: Sunday May 18, East Pender, with Maxine Gadd and Rhoda Rosenfeld.” [with Catriona Strang]. Front magazine 3:6 (July/August 1992): 8-11.

“D.” [with Nancy Shaw]. Avec 10 (1995): 107-114.

“Dance.” [text for Les Pas Perdus by Frozen Eye Dance Company]. Vancouver, October 1995.

“Ender.” Filling Station 5: 13-15.

“Four Poems.” [with Nancy Shaw]. Rhizome 1 (1997).

“Gap.” Giantess 1 (1995).

“Gender City.” Filling Station 5: 16.

“Held.” Writing 27 (1991): 79-82.

“’I want someone to say what you say.’…” [with Susan Clark & Lisa Robertson]. Chain 1 (Spring/Summer 1994): 29.

“Ice.” [text for electroacoustic work Au Coeur du Litige by François Houle]. Montréal: Radio Canada, 1999.

“The Idea File of Contingency.” [with Nancy Shaw]. Open Letter 10: 1 (Winter 1998): 34-36.

The Institute Songbook: Choral Works for Voice and Torch Songs. [with Nancy Shaw & Monika Kin Gagnon]. Vancouver: The Institute, 1995.

Interview & peformance. [with François Houle & Veryan Weston]. Impressions. British Broadcasting Corporation, July 1996.

“Interviewing Interviewing.” [with Nancy Shaw]. Interview by Dean Irvine & Ian Samuels. Filling Station 5: 8-12.

“Kitling.” The Gig 3 (July 1999): 25-26.

“Liner Notes.” [notes for audio disc Hacienda by François Houle & Et Cetera]. Vancouver: Songlines, 1992.

“Live.” [notes for audio disc Live @ Banlieues Bleues by François Houle, Joëlle Léandre & Georg Graewe]. Montréal: Red Toucan, 1996.

Low Fancy. With scores by François Houle. Toronto: ECW Press, 1993.

“from a Translation of the Carmina Burana.” West Coast Line 24:1 (Spring 1990): 30-31. [pp. 9, 11-13 draft]

“from Carmina Burana.” Raddle Moon 10 (1991): 72-75. [pp. 16-18; 20 draft]

“from Low Fancy.” Writing from the New Coast: Presentation. Providence: O·blēk editions, 1993: 286-288. [pp. 27, 34-35 draft]

“from Low Fancy.” The Last Word: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poetry. Ed. Michael Holmes. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 1995: 60-61. [pp. 8, 10, 34-35]

“from Low Fancy.” Big Allis 6 (1993).

“from Low Fancy.Out of Everywhere: linguistically innovative poetry by women in North America and the UK. London: Reality Street Editions, 1996: 100-106. [pp. 39-40, 46-48, 63]

“’Low Fancy’ from the Carmina Burana.” lyric& 1 (1992).

“Notes for the Expedition.” Raddle Moon 10 (1991): 70-71.

“Nudge a Turn.” [with François Houle]. Barscheit 3 (1993).

“Scene From an Opera.” Mirage #4/Period(ical) 7 (October 1992).

“Solo Requium.” (broadside, 1994).

“Split.” [notes for audio disc Schizosphere by François Houle trio]. Montréal: Red Toucan, 1994.

Steep: A Performance Notebook. With scores by François Houle. Los Angeles: Seeing Eye Books, 1997.

“Swindle.” The British Columbia Monthly 42 (August 1990): 2.

TEM: in 14 plates. Vancouver: Barscheit, 1992.

“Two Plates from TEM.” Front magazine (Summer 1990): 24-25.

“Unsettling.” [notes for audio disc Letting the Blue Note Settle by François Houle & Andreas Kahr]. Vancouver: Tatterdemalion, 1993.

“Untitled.” [notes for audio disc Nancali by François Houle & Benoît Delbecq]. Vancouver: Songlines, 1997.

“from Wat, an Opera,” “Dame Ninny’s Ditties,” and “Dame Ninny’s Elegant Refusal.” Exact Change Yearbook . Boston: Exact Change, 1995: 124-126

“Wicked Songs.” Barscheit 4 (1993); reprinted in Active in Airtime 3 (Spring 1994).

Editor, with Lisa Robertson & Christine Stewart, Barscheit 1-4 (1990-1993).

Co-editor, Tsunami Editions (1992-1993).

Co-editor, Raddle Moon (1993-1996).


>> Melissa Wolsak

“Figmental.” (broadside). Prince George: Gorse Press, 1996; reprinted in Matrix 50 (1997): 54.

“Fistnotes.” (broadside). Vancouver: lounge,1995.

The Garcia Family Co-Mercy. Vancouver: Tsunami Editions, 1994.

“The Garcia Family Co-Mercy,” Writing 28 (1992): 73-80. [pages 1-14]

“The Garcia Family Co-Mercy,” Raddle Moon 14 (1994): 4-17; reprinted in Subtext (1995) . [pages 32-45]

“The Garcia Family Co-Mercy,” Boo 2 (Summer 1994). [pages 51-57]

An Heuristic Prolusion. Vancouver: Documents in Poetics, 2000.

“An Heuristic Prolusion.” Raddle Moon 18 (2000).

“An Heuristic Prolusion.” The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 4 (December 1998) .

“Noyade.” Front magazine (Summer 1990): 31.

“Orchard Sutra,” Barscheit (Winter 1991): 22.

Pen Chants (forthcoming)

from “Pen Chants.” The Alterran Poetry Assemblage 3 (March 1998) .

from “Pen Chants.” The East Village Poetry Web 4 (1998)

from “Pen Chants.” The East Village Poetry Web 8 (1999)

from “Pen Chants.” The Gig 2 (March 1999): 17-20.

from “Pen Chants.” Mirage #4/Period(ical) 81 (December 1998).


AN ‘ECSTASIS’ THAT HOOKED YOU / TO THE NEXT TIME

– Maxine Gadd



[Note: I have digitized and uploaded the Canadian Emergency interview.]