Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Eunoia

Wikipedia defines this word from its Greek origins, meaning "well mind," or from Aristotle, "good will."

I prefer its use by Christian Bök meaning "beautiful thought," and used as the title for a "universal lipogram," a book of poetry based upon the restriction that each chapter would use only one vowel. Brian Kim Stephans examines the idea in the The Boston Review.

There are other restrictions placed upon the poetry. Each chapter must describe a culinary banquet, a prurient debauch, a pastoral tableau, and a nautical voyage. Each chapter must exhaust at 98 percent of available word with the chapter's assigned letter.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter E:
Bells knell when the keep gets levelled; then Greek rebels cheer when Helen enters her Greek temple (the steepled glebe where jewelled steeples shelter her ephebes); there, the reverends bless the freed empress. The Greek sects revere her gentleness, her tenderness; hence, these prefects help her seek self-betterment. The zen seers tell her: 'greed begets greed—never be self-centred: be selfless'. She defers. Her deference seems reverent. The empress kneels, then keens her vespers. The pewter censer spews the sweetest peppered scent. She feels refreshed; she feels perfected.

But it's far better to hear the works.

Thanks Camille for the tip.

2 Comments:

Blogger theColin: (xo) said...

damn! you havent posted in a long time! how are things? this poetry is so intriguing, i couldnt stop myself!

6:10 AM  
Blogger Schroeder said...

Nice to hear from you. I've been busy over the other place I post:

http://peoplegetready.blogspot.com

I'll post here more often when the mood inspires me.

Yeah, did you hear any of the poetry? The ubu.com site is pretty interesting for all kinds of bizarre stuff. It's like browsing at a rummage sale - you never know what you'll find.

5:45 PM  

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