RM - Week 2 "Bring it to the Table"

Chapter 2 of Electronic Literature by Scott Rettberg explored combinatory poetics. Out of this whole chapter, the thing I enjoyed the most was Tristan Tzara’s “recipe” for a Dadaist poem. I’m not entirely sure why it stood out to me so much, but I really appreciated it, especially the part that read “You will now become ‘an infinitely original writer with a charming sensitivity, although still misunderstood by the common people’.” That part seemed satirical, although I'm not sure if it was, but it was humorous to me. I also enjoyed learning about Dada and the Dadaists and how their works/ ideas influenced art and literature. There is a lot of interesting history there that I was previously unaware of! Especially the point made that surrealism might have come from Dada.  

I looked at the permutation poems of Brion Gysin as mentioned in the Electronic Literature book. I learned that these poems have four to five word titles that would be permutated into some or all of its possible forms/ orders. A few of them were run through a computer and were early examples of computer-generated poetry! I am not entirely sure what they stand for or what they represent, but they are very fascinating to look at and read.