Page 10
{The Blue Banner}
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Constrained poetry does not limit creativity
Sarah Hinson
SBHINSON@UNCA.EDU
STAFF WRITER
Math and poetry go together like
peanut butter and chocolate, at least
according to Patrick Bahls, a faculty
member in the math department at
UNC Asheville and one of the orga
nizers of the 2010 conference on con
strained poetry at UNCA.
“People are terrified of these ideas
separated from each other, but when
they’re put together, it really shows off
the intimate relationship the two share
with one another and allows for such
great understanding, understanding
poetry through math and math through
poetry,” Bahls said. “So much is re
vealed by the two disciplines when
they’re brought together.”
Bahls worked with Richard Chess, a
professor in the literature and language
department at UNCA, to organize the
conference. Chess acknowledged the
50th anniversary of the founding of
Oulipo, which consisted of a gathering
of French-speaking mathematicians
and writers who created works using
constrained writing techniques.
Examples of constrained writing
techniques used in Oulipo include li-
pograms, which involve eliminating
a letter or group of letters, anagrams
and noun replacement. Oulipian works
may be original creations or variations
of preexisting texts.
Some writers still continue the
founders’ formulaic methods, such as
poet Lee Ann Brown, who opened the
evening before the conference with a
presentation and readings.
“I just love the playfulness of lan
guage,” Brown said. “I like to rewrite
things that are already there, and the
permission to replace, to cross-polli-
nate and play.”
The concentration behind Oulipo,
“With regular, traditional poetry, magic doesn’t
always happen either, and this is Just another way
of approaching a creative process.”
- Brian Hart
senior literature student
Brown said, is on the process rather
than the product.
Many of Brown’s poems are al
terations of preexisting texts, like the
Pledge of Allegiance. Her works and
the creations of other Oulipo artists
often involve applying formulas and
constraints to poems, like selecting
new nouns from dictionaries to replace
original words or using anagrams.
Brian Hart, a senior at UNCA,
helped lead one of the conferences
involving anagrams, or the rearrange
ment of the letters in words to create
new words. This subject is also the
topic for Hart’s undergraduate re
search.
“There can arise an art out of the
processes and some really good stuff,”
Hart said. “It’s a way to kind of turn
your conscious mind off trying to
make sense of something and just let
ting the imagination be artificial to a
certain extent and letting something
else take over. With regular, traditional
poetry, magic doesn’t always happen
either, and this is just another way of
approaching a creative process.”
Hart said people still express them
selves through the choices they make
as far as which poems and processes
to use.
Some question the extent to which
personal art can be created when using
automatic computer programs. During
the opening presentation, Luke Han
kins, editor of the Asheville Poetry
Review, asked Brown about the artis
tic value of purely computer-generated
works.
“It can be dangerous to go around
prescribing what is and isn’t art, but
there are some criteria,” Hankins said.
“From my perspective, art is some
thing that’s made and created with
intentionality, and there’s an actual
medium that the artist is manipulat
ing. You lose intentionality if you use
a computer program.”
Only some Oulipo is created using
computer programs, and each con
straint varies.
Hankins said the methods still seem
reactionary and limited as they pro
duce philosophical or political state
ments rather than products stemming
from the desire to create something
beautiful and lasting.
“There seems to be a little bit of dif
ference in terms of purpose between
the artist who’s writing haikus her
whole life or a woman who’s making
beautiful sculptures her whole life,
versus someone who’s just trying to
come up with a system that reverses
everything that comes before, that’s a
reaction to what’s come before,” Han
kins said.
He said people who practice Oulipo
likely have a different perspective
and may experience new possibilities
through formulas they would not have
thought of before.
“I do write in traditional forms a lot,
and I do think it’s true that with meter
and rhyme you end up surprising your
self. You end up saying things that you
might not have if you weren’t work
ing with form,” Hankins said. “Maybe
that’s true to an even greater degree
with these more intense experiments.”
Bahls, who often requires his math
students to construct poetry as a math
ematical process, said he thinks nar
rowing people’s focus to a limited
amount of words, phrases and possi
bilities can be freeing.
“In narrowing your focus, it’s almost
like a microscope, because you’re not
looking at anything else but what’s
underneath the glass at that particular
instant,” Bahls said. “You have the
keenest, clearest perception as to what
it is you’re looking at, and so all of a
sudden it’s few words that are taking
on such rich possibilities and dramatic
new relationships between one another
that you wouldn’t have seen before.
The potential of these poems is incred
ibly heightened when that’s all you’re
allowed to have.”
The conference included workshops
and talks dealing with everything from
generative art to lipograms to the his
tory of the use of poetry in mathemat
ics.
Participants also shared some of
their own Oulipian works as they
learned how math and poetry can go
hand-in-hand.
Show
Continued from Page 9
According to Conerty, Matt Wil
liams will join both bands on the violin
and Melissa Hyman will join Now You
See Them on the cello.
“We’ll be having a cello and violin
sit in with us for our set too. So, that’s
exciting for people who know our mu
sic,” Conerty said.
Conerty said the band has been tour
ing more, which has brought them
closer together.
They have also started to incorporate
new instruments.
“We’ve got some new instruments,
like a keyboard and a high-hat, which
have expanded the sound. We’ve been
trying to write in different styles of
music than we’re used to, and we’ve
been playing with a lot more musi
cians, which has also changed things
for the better,” he said.
According to Conerty, Holy Ghost
Tent Revival influenced their music
and performance style.
“ITiey’ve influenced us in a big
way, and I’ve said openly that we’ve
taken aspects of their live show and
songwriting style and applied it to our
band, and they’ve said the same thing
about us. So it’s nice to have two bands
that are constantly inspiring each other
share the stage whenever they can,”
Conerty said.
Now You See Them will take the
stage with Holy Ghost Tent Revival
on Dec. 17 at the Grey Eagle. The 8
p.m. show is 18 and older and is $10
at the door.
ik