Anatman, Pumpkin Seed, Algorithm

Synopsis

Anatman, Pumpkin Seed, Algorithm playfully experiments at the edges where languages meet. These poems probe the technologies of language and the languages of technology. This is “technology”, with an emphasis on the Greek root “techne”, meaning “something that’s made”. The investigation then becomes one of the relation of language to “making”. The seams where languages meet offer the most vivid site for this activity, whether indigenous languages inside Spanish colonialism, the natural language inside programming, or the migration of the codes and protocols of the Internet into human speech. It is one thing inside another! In three sections, “The Parts”, “Semilla de Calabaza / Pumpkin Seed”, and “Leaving Loss Glazier”, these poems explore the topographies/e-geographies of such migrations, invasions, and revelations. They explore Hispanicity and the Americas, sounding such language play within the action of programming or in human speech, whether set in the landscapes of the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, or Cuba. In addition, many of these poems have used computer programming to test variants, to seed vocabulary, to build lexical culture, and to extend the poet’s toolset to build beyond the flatness of print. In order to see language as so active, it becomes necessary to see it not as a singular and sovereign. It is not a whole but as an aggregation of constantly active parts, language as programming that makes language. Seeing language as parts of language expands all the possibilities that language within language opens. Such language is alive. This poetry is the living fabric of such activity.

Praise for this Book

‘Loss Pequeño Glazier’s pioneering work at the Electronic Poetry Center has, at its heart, this poetry. In his first full-length collection, Glazier dazzles with linguabatic élan, flying through the textual air and landing on all three sides of every border crossing. Anatman, Pumpkin Seed, Algorithm ushers us into a world not just of possible virtualities, but also, as Zukofsky put it, of “actual word stuff.” The digital future has arrived and it’s a book.’ —Charles Bernstein

‘Loss Pequeño Glazier is perhaps best known as the brilliantly particular master of poetry’s new home in cyberspace, the Electronic Poetry Center, with ten million users in ninety countries. A veritable Pied Piper of possibilities, his own transforming works here collected are without question at the cutting edge of it all. So dance to the pixels and enjoy!’ —Robert Creeley

Reviews of this Book

‘I didn’t know Glazier’s work when I bought this collection. It’s published by the print-on-demand Australian/UK publisher Salt. I tend to but their collections simply because they publish them; they seem to have developed the habit of excellence.’ —Slashdo