Transcending the boundaries of conventional poetic discourse

Enactivating Multiversal Community (Part #4)

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Imaginative fictional exploration: The classic works which appear best to have alluded to possibilities of transcending conventional discourse, through a degree of infusion of poetry, are those of Hermann Hesse (The Glass Bead Game, 1946) and of Robert Graves (Seven Days in New Crete, 1949). The first used an aesthetic game, in a community named as Castalia, to carry the allusions as to the nature of that discourse. The second alluded to the nature of governance of New Crete by poet-magicians. Both situated the communities in the future and were of Greek inspiration.

In his review of the second, Robert H. Canary (Utopian and Fantastic Dualities in Robert Graves's Watch the North Wind Rise, Science Fiction Studies, 1, 1974, 4) notes:

Poets are here the acknowledged legislators of the human race, and poetic values rule even in economic matters: there is no money in New Crete, goods being given to those who need then in return for free gifts; no machines are allowed that are not hand-crafted, made with the hands of "love." For Graves, at least, love is a poetic value.... To begin with, it is obviously concerned not only with the kind of society implied by Graves's poetic values but also with the kind of society ideal for poets. The two are not identical, for the poetry of New Crete -- and its music as well -- is insipid and academic.... The inhabitants of New Crete do not admire poets but the Goddess who inspired them.

The Glass Bead Game provides more focus to the allusions by exploiting references to "correspondences", whether "aesthetic" or "scientific" (cf. Theories of Correspondences -- and potential equivalences between them in correlative thinking, 2007). Efforts have been made to replicate elements of that game, as they can be inferred, in an online interactive environment. The Wikipedia profile offers links to:

• Toward the Glass Bead Game: a rhetorical invention (2004): Joshua Fost's implementation using Semantic Web elements. He argues that one of its central attractions is the promise it offers of a medium in which to express the many beautiful symmetries which connect ideas and disciplines -- held to be a deep and identifying trait of the human mind. He subsequently proposed a model for the evolutionary and neuropsychological forces underlying both this quest and its ultimate destination (Not God, Then What? Neuroscience, Aesthetics, and the Origins of the Transcendent, 2007)
• The Glass Bead Game: Paul Pilkington's implementation, remaining close to Hesse's original conception (and articulated in a set of books), which grew from the connections between music and mathematics
• a wiki exploring playable variants of the game and what an ideal "glass bead game" might be.

Poeclectics: Mario Petrucci (Making Voices: identity, poeclectics and the contemporary British poet, International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, 3, 2006, 1):

The concept of Poeclectics is described, and used to explore the vitality, diversification and complexity of voice currently exhibited among British poets. The author also examines, through a Poeclectic lens, specific aspects of literary output in order to demonstrate a growing engagement between their means of funding and profound contemporary issues of personal-creative identity. The importance of collaboration among artists is highlighted... introducing the terms polyvocal, co-vocal and multi-vocal...

In summary, Poeclectics expresses a wide-ranging diversity and plurality in poetic voice. It serves:

1. the desire to investigate the tangents and outbacks of creative self; and
2. to register deep uncertainties over canon-making and any rigidly held author perspective.

Poetry slams: Of relatively recent origin, typically a poetry slam is a competition at which poets read or recite original work. Now a worldwide phenomenon (with at world level), in the most common variant, an "open slam," the competition is open to all who wish to compete -- implying a degree of "multivocalism". In an "invitational slam," by contrast, only those invited to do so may compete. In a "theme slam" all performances must conform to a specified theme, genre, or formal constraint. Slams are controversial and have evoked considerable criticism from conventional poets. A compilation by Tim Clare presents critical and supportive arguments (Slam: A Poetic Dialogue, 2010).

As noted by Bob Holman (Multivoice Poetry Ensembles, 12/14/99):

Multivoice poems, a staple of the Dada / Futurist / Surrealist / Fluxus lineage, have often been a successful weapon at the National Poetry Slams. This year, however, they were rarely seen. Some poets sneer at Slam's use of the form as gimmickry, a strategy to hide a weak performer. Still, some "group poems," as Slam calls them, have become true classics: Gary Glazner's Toad Venom, the first group piece, is one, and Dallas's (Black/Gay/Redneck) Superheroes, Baby! another. Austin's Motorcycle piece is a real showstopper, and Taylor Mali used group pieces to bring Providence a championship in 1996 and followed that with the controversial Sex Poem for Mouth Almighty, champs the next year....

Universes and i was born with two tongues turn the poem into a communal act. In using literature as a lever for social change and devoting themselves to poetry's artistry, not rhetoric, they punch a hole in the future, a sweet opening for a new literature -- people-driven, with searing content, and not afraid of beauty.

Following recognition that the multiplicity of faiths constitute multiple "voices", slam has been adapted to a form of interfaith discourse through Sacred Slam, described as follows:

Expect the unexpected at Sacred Slam. You may hear a Buddhist beat box over Tuva throat chants, a Sufi articulate the universal tragedy of September 11th, 2001, and a Kabballah teacher offer Sound Meditation to end the evening. You may hear from a female Christian Activist or a Palestinian Muslim, or an Israeli Jew and leave not knowing what box belonged to whom.

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