Bifidus' Anatomy of Doubt - from Bifidus Jones

[Marie Wintzer]

Super happy to get this card from Bifidus. His work is so multi-dimensional, layered, focused and... it looks damn good. Amazing details all over.

My soul, myself,
my faculties. I'm sure

My guts, by brains,
My senses, who am I?

I am me, with my body/in my body/because of my body, standing right here on this map. I can feel, smell, hear, talk, think. I can hear my belly calling lunch time. I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure, I am.
Oh dear, I don't know anymore....

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PS: This is just my humble interpretation of it.
Ehemm, talking about interpretation, pleaaaase drop us a clue about that code Bifidus!

[Marie Wintzer]

Oh, Sloan, you seem pretty alert and fit for 3 in the morning, love that comment! I never thought about those things. Dancing, breathing, of course. This would make each of us living poetry. And carrying a huuuuuge book of poetry in our DNA. Why have I never thought about it in that way?
Now I also see math as potential poetry. But that's written down.

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Marie again, incredibly thought-provoking. Part of what's going on might relate to the idea that for the last few centuries we've come to consider poetry something that exists on a written or printed page. As the printed word loses dominance, we start to think of poetry and other artforms in other ways, if you follow (me at 3 a.m.) Maybe more to the point, some of the most convincing things I've read about the roots of poetry is its connection to DANCE (prehistoric). Many might not think that at first - I didn't. If you start to think of it in relation to dance - you have a real body connection. McClure and his generation were preoccupied with poetry's relation to breath (lines were measured as "breath lines") - your poetics derived from your own unique breathing patterns - that's pretty much how free verse operates. So the connection to poetry and breathe is a body connection. What's always struck me - and I'm no scientist - is the similarity of syntatic structures across languages to DNA - then language and poetry are placed physically in the body - not sure completely what I'm talking about but I think linguistics supports some of this. Where's Bifidus - Hipatic High Priest - to be the net when the wire of coherence finally snaps?

[Marie Wintzer]

Thanks Sloan, always so interesting. Being a scientist myself I feel quite close to that topic. Googled McClure. Biochemical organisms turning into poetry is quite easy to picture, but the other way round is a very different story isn't it? Thought-provoking indeed.

[cheryl penn]

Organic poetic nanites?

[De Villo Sloan]

Marie, home run for you and Bifidus. Last summer Erni and were talking about the biological aspects of poetry (if biotech, then why not biopoetry). Michael McClure came up. He's a California poet who has long explored in this area (Crick - the scientist - DNA - liked McClure's poetry). McClure has an essay where he proposes that poetry or poems will eventually evolve into biochemical organisms. I know, a little strange and scary, but it's out there. Thought-provoking stuff.