How to do the perfect Trashpo mailing by Jim Leftwich (Roanoke, Virginia, USA) & John M. Bennett (Columbus, Ohio, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA members Jim Leftwich (Roanoke, Virginia, USA) & collabs with John M. Bennett (Columbus, Ohio, USA)

October 4, 2014 - First, there is no right or wrong way to mail Trashpo; the choices rest squarely with the trashpoet. I did receive this incredible mailing from Jesus Jim (Jim Leftwich) that I think constitutes a perfect, or near perfect, presentation of Trashpo (one possibility for). In addition to the FAB work, there are many great mailing ideas I would like to share with trashpoets and kulters. As you can see, Trashpo is promoted loudly on the outer envelope (above). As the Trashpo Lexicon says: “Trashpo is the opposite of subtle.”

Jim Leftwich assembled the mailing, and it contains a huge amount of material, which sends the message trashpoets are generous; and in most situations, trash is a free and renewable resource. The mailing also includes an incredibly generous sampling of vispo collabs by Jim Leftwich and John M. Bennett in the form of TLPs (Tacky Little Pamphlets). This shows that Trashpo is collaborative, and these are wonderful collabs!

These excellent vispo TLPs work thematically as well because Trashpo, after all, is a form of visual poetry even though text might not necessarily be present. The next piece seems to be trash altered into a TLP by Jim Leftwich. Trashpo – probably due to the DKult influence – sometimes takes on a religious dimension:

Included in the mailing was a shopping list. The found shopping list – John M. Bennett is often cited as the first to use it in a Trashpo mailing – is one of the most enduring Trashpo poetic forms. You can never go wrong throwing a shopping list in the envelope:

Many Trashpo mailings include unaltered trash the sender has chosen to share with the recipient. These might be saved by the recipient as art objects or talismans (DKulters especially collect sacred Trashpo objects) or they may be used in a collaborative piece. The use of the trash is left to the receiver, unless instructions are included. Jim Leftwich included a great deal of trash in this mailing:

Notice the prominence of textual elements in these selections. More FAB Bennett collabs:

Next is a spontaneous scannerbed composition using trash sent by Jim Leftwich:

Another amazing Leftwich-Bennett TLP collab:

I conclude with this fave:

And this is not everything that was included! I hope you enjoy seeing the work; and if you are a trashpoet, maybe you’ve gotten some mailing ideas!

[De Villo Sloan]

Terry, start your Trashpo collection now! Just mail something (preferably found material) to any of these "Legends of Trashpo"  we have in abundance here & the contents of the world's wastebaskets & dumpsters will soon be arriving at your door. And in no time, you'll be a "Legend of Trashpo" too.

(I'll never forget the day Karen Champlin in Illinois received her first JMB shopping list & listpo was born.)

JMB, the TLP's were an added bonus here; they're great. I agree with you. My advice to anyone is to make use of the internet & explore the potential. (Remember when photocopying caused a revolution in printing?) But I also advise to make, distribute & keep hard copies of everything. Continue to use the postal system. Someday the internet could be - poof - gone or become something unrecognizable or something you don't want to use. Look at the rise of the surveillance state via the net.

[Terry Owenby]

Wow! You are in possession of some fabulous trash art. I love the collaborations!!

[John M. Bennett]

Thanks for posting all that stuff!  I don;t find time to do enough of that; being old-school and fascinated by multiples, i spend much more time making those Luna Bisonte TLPs and other print publications, several of which Jim sent you.  Plus, i really do think that print will last longer than anything on-line!  Tho on-line certainly gets to many more eyeballs, especially at first.

[De Villo Sloan]

Thank you Susan, DK, Rebecca, WAR, Annette & BG.

I was hoping folks would be interested in seeing how Jim (& by extension JMB) approach a Trashpo mailing. We've had occasion to see approaches used by just about everyone & now we have two vispo heavy hitters to consider as well.

DK has been doing some great collabs w/JMB recently too that are on FB, but I wish more people could see them.

JL went for SCALE in this - really interesting & diverse material - but I don't think it beats Cleo who sent me what I am convinced was the contents of an entire wastebasket. Can anyone beat that w/ something they sent or received?

Again, I was totally impressed. Jim must have spent a lot of time on some of those.

[Susan McAllister]

I love these! Thanks for sharing.

[DKeys]

fantastic!  I especially like the TrashKabob looking collabs--chunks of vispo and trash stacked on top of each other. This makes me think of a trash poem but more of a trashcollage poem JB has a way of taking many different styles and weaving then together with his handy dandy ink pen 

[Rebecca Guyver]

So much!  And what dynamic charcters they've invented. Great stuff!