With these groups of poems I wanted to make the relationship between language and image in my visual poems clear, if not obvious. It seemed to me that offering an alternative view would clarify some misconceptions about the style and its basis for those who are interested in this genre but don’t know much about it. While I don’t expect everything in all of my visual poems to appear to a reader the way it appeared to me in the creative process, an acknowledgment of the nature based structure behind the poems is essential for approaching any work of this kind.
Jump into the galleries below, or jump all the way down to check out the concept behind “Brains.”
These two images show the initial physical basis for the visual poem “Brains,” original published as a Nōd Magazine teaser. While the foundation of the poem is physical, following the monotonous act of waking up for a 9-5, forming the body of the figure. By the time we have read to the top, we’re watching a transcendent mind space rather than mis-firing brain chemistry.
Dan Dorman 