Trashpo Script-ure by DharmaDaDa Neil Gordon (Lehigh Acres, Florida, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail art by IUOMA member Neil Gordon (Lehigh Acres, Florida, USA)

September 5, 2015 - I am thrilled to share new work received from Trashpo legend Neil Gordon.

He remains true to his anti-art, post-punk roots with this stunning composition using what I can only think to call pharma-trash. Mail Art Martha (London, UK) has done groundbreaking work with DKult pharmaceuticals. Neil Gordon is the first trashpoet I know to explore from a text-centered perspective the potential of the huge amount of waste generated by the pharmaceutical industry. (Some work has been done with plastic and cardboard pill containers.) I am sure avant master William S. Burroughs would give an approving nod to this new direction in Trashpo if he could. The piece can be read as social commentary about the regimentation and control of life under a system of medical fascism based on profits from the dispensing of medication.

The implications of the work transcend the pharmaceutical level as well. The repetition of the strongly fonted “go” and “waiting” might be considered minimalist action poetry. The message received is also something deeply existential: The chance meeting of John Clellon Holmes’ Go and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The reverse side conjures Diane Keys’ “Junk Mail Revolution” (a form of Trashpo using junk mail):

Neil Gordon also included a kind note:

While Neil Gordon is associated with the punk aesthetic, we find literary references including J.G. Ballard and Hannah Weiner.

And the reverse:

Many thanks to Neil Gordon!

MinXus-LynXus posts about Neil Gordon:

https://minxuslynxus2.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/minxus-mail-bag-neil...

https://minxuslynxus2.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/minxus-mail-bag-is-d...

https://minxuslynxus2.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/minxus-mail-bag-this...

https://minxuslynxus2.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/minxus-mail-to-mr-ne...