crawl____space

Pleasure of the Text
Holly Isemonger

Artist note:
I am interested in forms of repetition and the morphing of texts; these have formed core parts of my praxis in writing poetry. However, because a poem is usually static text on a page, the reader doesn’t get to participate in the process, except in so far as reading is a kind of “participation.” As a result, they don’t get to feel the joy and surprise that actually manipulating a text can bring. This joy, this state of play, in which a poem is written, is my favourite place, so to speak. The rest of the world fades away as I ask myself questions like: What does this word mean? What does it sound like? What does it mean when it’s placed next to another word, say "desire"? What does it mean when it is placed next to "you"? Does that word remind me of something else? If I move the word from one sentence to another, what happens to its sense? The feeling of being in the moment, the process of thinking and playing and making - for me, is a species of bliss. I want to share that bliss with the reader. So I have built us a place where we can enjoy the pleasure of the text, together.

In his instructions for making a cut-up poem, Tristan Tzara says that "the poem will resemble you." I believe this is true. The poem is as much yours as it is mine.

Artist bio:

Holly Isemonger is a poet and editor from Gerringong, NSW. She was the joint winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in journals such as Cordite, Blackbox, Overland and Westerly. She is the author of Greatest Hit (Vagabond Press) and the chapbooks Hip Shifts (If A Leaf Falls Press) and Deluxe Paperweight (Stale Objects dePress). She can be found at @Hisemonger on Twitter.

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