The Writing Experiment by Hazel Smith

unadorned and unpropitious work. an uncomfortably colourful

world. another concept of imagination. another crucifixion in

terms. another day in this pretty world of ours. are we sharing the

same century? at the end of character, what begins? battles across

the marne, the toy soldier game, the uglinesses of his childhood

coming back, little blotches of unsatisfied time, pockets of emptiness,

an enormous gap to be filled, hours to cross like miles, he was

searching for a mission, yes, a cause, and made a kind of cause of

himself. bethlehem attachments. beware of angels. bizzare little

prophets. casting memories. catapults of language. children

vomiting in books out of jealousy because their national hero is

not getting published. climbing out of the valley of the ordinary.

competing for the thoughts of god. competing for the house of the

past. copyright in paradise. courting fallen angels. dancing in the

future. dead or a string quartet. do dreams have assets? does

jimmie have boundaries? does jimmie think late night tv staves

off death? dream images of a hundred white generals pulling an

enormous black leg. dreaming about having sleep as a job. dreams

with huge casts of strange, strange characters. each book only

the beginning of what it is necessary to say. each step closer to the

world, the more it blurs. erase all distinguishing marks.

From ‘Interviews for the Freedom of Dreams’ (Allen 1993, p. 29)

The following piece, an extract from a collaboration Neither the One nor the
Other , between British poets Frances Presley and Elizabeth James, is again
based on phrase manipulation: it employs many of the strategies already
discussed to witty effect, using the initial sentence as a base but also working
away from it. The technique allows the poets to take words closely related in
sound (past, pastoral, aporia, parsnip, etc.) to produce meanings to do with
history, language, religion and the environment. These accumulate in such a
way as to effectively question (though not through linear argument or
logical sequence) the supremacy of the pastoral tradition in literature:

Example 1.20

We need to approach the pastoral with care and remember that it’s not

a convenient utpoa

(out-take)

we need

we need to approach

16 The Writing Experiment