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The article focuses on the disruptive potential of experimental poetry, particularly through the works of Canadian visual poets Kate Siklosi and Dani Spinosa. Topics include the reimagining of the page as a heterotopic space, the anarchival nature of their visual techniques, and the feminist critique of traditional archival practices.

This article revisits questions of embodiment (screen and otherwise) with regard to one of the most representative first-generation hypertext fictions--Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl--in order to show how this new genre's search for identity takes the form of a programmatic inversion of the principles underlying the Romantic poetics and imagery and of a conscious identification with the forms that established views of literature exiled from its realm. The analysis follows the train of metaphorical oppositions deriving from the contrast that Patchwork Girl sets up between book and hypertext by presenting itself as a derivative of Mary Shelley's novel embodied in a monster (re)born from discarded pieces (of prose or flesh) as opposed to the beautiful and harmonious body that is the book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I present a framework for the analysis of postlinguistic visual poetry through a discussion of several works by Canadian poets derek beaulieu and Donato Mancini. This poetry eschews words to manipulate parts or hints of letters, exploring the minutiae of typewritten form for meaning construction. Drawing on recent work in cognitive science, I show how visual poems disrupt common understandings of language through its materiality, how the creators engage in improvisations around these understandings to develop the unexpected, and how the poetic artifacts prompt dynamic inferences and improvised understandings in readers. Meaningful understandings of the poems emerge especially from the development of relational understandings between fragments of letters through the perception of fictive motion and fictive change. I show how cognitive improvisation facilitates these perceptions and meaning construction in the contrastive styles of beaulieu's and Mancini's poems. I argue that improvisational cognitive processes on the part of both the writers and readers play a crucial role in how postlinguistic forms come to be meaningful within the context of bibliographic and material expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Why would it not think of its typographic form already from its birth!’: a genetic approach to the typography of Aaro Hellaakoski’s ‘Kesien Kesä’ The study of visual poetry often focuses solely on the iconicity of the poem, i.e. the interplay between expressive typography and the linguistic text, leaving the possibly existing genetic documents and the processes they witness with little or no attention. The article shows how genetic criticism (critique génétique) can enrich our understanding and interpretation of visual poetry by examining the manuscript, proofs and published versions of the poem ‘Kesien kesä’ (The Summer of Summers) from the typographically experimental collectionJääpeili(1928) (Ice Mirror) by the Finnish poet Aaro Hellaakoski (1893–1952). The genetic approach to the typography of ‘Kesien kesä’ reveals a multiphase process of trial and error, where Hellaakoski strives to achieve a satisfactory visual rendering for his poem. Besides trying out different typefaces and sizes, Hellaakoski is especially concerned with the use of white space on the page, especially with indentation and stanza breaks. Based on the semiotics of Charles S. Peirce, the article proposes a genetic conception of typography as a more abstract entity, albeit that the interpretation of the genesis of typography is characteristically material. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented that offers poetry criticism of poems associated with the Concrete Poetry movement, including "erschaffung der eva" ("The Creation of Eve") by Ernst Jandl, "Silencio" by Eugen Gomringer, and "Tea Kettle Drum Water Lily Cup" by Ian Hamilton Finlay. The role of narrativity in such visual poems is addressed in relation to the ways that they include visual or material aspects.

This article analyzes the symbolism, plays on words, and strategic use of characters in the ancient Japanese poetry collection called the "Man'yōshū." Several topics are discussed, including how the Han Chinese written language used in the poetry collection probably came to Japan through the Korean Peninsula in the first century, how the first real Japanese, or "Yamato," texts were developed around the sixth century, and how certain recurring kanji characters, which are Chinese characters used in Japanese writing, can be found in the "Man'yōshū."

The article offers poetry criticism of the poem "Coloss. 3.3.," by George Herbert, which was published in the collection "The Temple." The author discusses the anamorphic and religious aspects of the poem and analyzes the themes of time and knowledge in light of the theories of philosophers René Descartes, Jacques Lacan, and Søren Kierkegaard. Herbert's use of and departure from visual technique is also examined.

Reviews the book "Modern Visual Poetry," by Willard Bohn.

A critique is presented of pre-World War I circular poem-paintings, such as the poem "Lettre-Océan" by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and the painting "Festa patriottica" or "Manifestazione interventista" by Italian Futurist painter Carlo Carrà, which incorporates text. The 20th century avant-garde movement, lyric poetry styles, and action in art are also discussed.

The article critiques English poet Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson's poetry in cinematic terms, proposing viewing Tennyson's poetry as a form of cinema. t explores the extent to which Tennyson employed fluid spatial patterns to heighten the emotional quality of his descriptions. It analyzes the poem "Mariana in the South," by Tennyson.

The article offers poetry criticism of the poem "Futurist Portrait" by Santiago Rusiñol. It explores on the relations in visual poetry between language and art and between visual gesture and verbal utterance in Catalonia, Spain. It shows familiarity with some principles. It serves as an example of propaganda favorable to Germany as it was written during war.

The article offers poetry criticism of various poems in the poetry collection "La Lune ou le livre des poèmes" by Pierre Albert-Birot. These poems include "Reposoir," "Les éclats," and "Girouette." It examines the collection's visual poetry that was first published in 1924 with some of the poems dating from as early as 1903. The author provides a critical interpretation of the poems and offers different meanings behind several elements.

Reviews the book "Ligatures," by Donato Mancini.

Reviews the book "Piramidy slonca, labirynty: Poezja wizualna w Polsce ad XIV do KVIII wieku (Pyramids, Suns, Labyrinths: Visual Poetry in Poland from XIVth to the XVIIIth Centuries," by Piotr Rypson.

Reviews the book "Modern Visual Poetry," by Willard Bohn.

The article reviews the book "The Aesthetics of Visual Poetry, 1914–1928," by Willard Bohn.

The article reviews the book "Stone Girl E-Pic," by Ed Baker.

This article reviews the book "Las palabras del silencio de Santa Rosa de Lima o la poesía visual del Inefable," by Emilio Ricardo Báez Rivera.

The article provides analysis of the untitled poem beginning "in Just spring" by E.E. Cummings. Reference is made to the running together of words as symbolizing the excited tumbling forward of children in spring. The significance of the "goat-footed balloonMan" is debated as being a reference to Pan, a symbol of spring, or a threatening figure signaling the end of innocence. The article notes that Cummings was also a painter whose use of blank space is seen a function of his painterly eye.

Reviews the book "Visual Poetry in the Avant Writing Collection," edited by John M. Bennett.

This article reviews the book "Between Page and Screen," by Amaranth Borusk and Brad Bouse.

The article reviews several exhibitions, including "Multiplicity/Multiplicidad: An Exhibition of Artistamps and Mailart Archives" at SomArts Bay Gallery in San Francisco, California through July 25, 2007, "PARASTAMP-Four Decades of Artistamps from Fluxus to Internet," at the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in Hungary on March 23-June 24, 2007, and "Words from and for Ilse Garnier," on July 27-August 30, 2007.

Reviews the book 'Modern Visual Poetry,' by Willard Bohn.

Reviews the book 'Swinger of Birches,' by Robert A. Frost, illustrated by Peter Koeppen.