FLUXLIST: Mesostics

[Allan Revich]

http://www.stephendrury.com/Writings/texts/Mode100/mesostic.htm MESOSTIC – a technique used by Cage for writing texts.  A new text is developed around the letters of a “key” text (a person's name, the subject of the text, or an opening phrase, such as, in the original vocal version of Eight Whiskus, “whistlin is did”), the letters of which are placed down a middle row and preceded and followed by either newly written text or (as in the Whiskus) fragments of the original source text which contain the key letter.  The syllables containing the key letter in Eight Whiskus are always set as an A natural.  (In the violin version, the whole melodic line has been transposed so that the key is expressed by an F natural.)  The other notes of the little melodies develop a limited GAMUT of MODALLY related pitches.   http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/cage-quotes.html "I don't know when it began. But at Edwin Denby's loft on 21st Street, not at the time but about the place, I wrote my first mesostic. It was a regular paragraph with the letters of his name capitalized. Since then I have written them as poems, the capitals going down the middle, to celebrate whatever, to support whatever, to fulfill requests, to initiate my thinking or my nonthinking (Themes and Variations is the first of a series of mesostic works: to find a way of writing that, though coming from ideas, is not about them but produces them). I have found a variety of ways of writing mesostic[s.]" --Cage   http://mesostic.com/index2.htm http://mesostic.com/mesosticex.htm  (What is a mesostic) welcome to mesostic.com no artist has influenced me as much as John Cage (1912-1992). i have been inspired by his seminal ideas, and have chosen to present this modest page, named after his literary invention, the mesostic. you will not find any examples of his musical or visual works, as i do not wish to incur the wrath of copyright-crazed legal departments. this attempt at a tribute will primarily be comprised of my own work, inspired by his own. keep in mind this is simply a personal tribute, not an attempt to present anything definative concerning Cage's life and work. if you are new to Cage's work, I hope it will inspire you to learn more. if you are a Cage expert who's mission is to criticize, I suggest you take this opportunity to do something better. michael carlton flint, seattle, washington.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesostic Mesostic From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search A mesostic is a poem or other text written such that a vertical phrase intersects lines of horizontal text. Similar to an Acrostic, but with the vertical phrase intersecting the middle of the line, as opposed to beginning each new line.   http://www.alecfinlay.com/yai/mesosticlaboratorium.html http://www.floom.com/words/mesostic_gallery.htm