A Cut-Up´s Cut Up

By Ewan

Mon, 09 Mar 2009
  • 1460 reads
7 comments
 

Tzara cheated, used a magician´s hat;
DaDaists, the dodos, chose certain pages
- discarding strips that caught the eye.
Davy Jones did the same for Ziggy,
billy dolls and other friends of his.
Everything you think is aleatory,
is carefully chosen to make you think so;
because the infinite looks random
to the naked brain, no matter
how you slice the π.

Certificate U
Poem
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by chuck on
Yes a lot of it is tricks. Total randomness is probably total nonsense. Like throwing scrabble pieces up in the air with quite boring results. Readers/listeners like to be deceived but only up to a point. Let's face it 'I was born in a cross-fire hurricane' sounds a lot more exciting than 'I delivered was in maternity ward of a Dartford hospital the.' Not sure about that last sentence....I found it among some old notes.

Submitted by Ewan on
'"I was born in a cross-fire hurricane" sounds a lot more exciting than "I delivered was in the maternity ward of a Dartford hospital."' Hahaha! Imagine that, sounds like a line from 'Not- Exactly-Jumping, More-a-Little-Enervated Jack Ever-So-Slightly Showy', doesn't it?

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by threeleafshamrock on
Is that 'Davy Jones' of the 'locker' fame or of the 'Monkeys'? Were the dodos in Davy Jones' locker, or did they write songs for the Monkeys with Neil Diamond? Did Davy buy Billy (Halliday, Fury, Idol) dolls for Ziggy Stardust? Far to clever for me! Enjoyed all the same ;) Chris ;)

Submitted by jennifer on
Is 'n' the 'n' used in equations? This is hurting my brain! J x

 

Submitted by threeleafshamrock on
I think it's a chicken Jen! ;)

Submitted by Ewan on
Yes, Jen, it's a maths symbol, not 'n' but 'π'. Or Pi if you prefer. Not the first time I've come unstuck because of the fonts here. David Jones is Bowie's real name, Billy Dolls is a reference to the New York Dolls' drummer, Billy Murcia, who died from a drug overdose while/just before Bowie was writing 'Time' from Aladdin Sane. Serendipitously, a 'Billy Doll' was the first openly gay doll. I have my doubts about Bowie's claim to using the cut-ups technique for writing his lyrics. Like explaining a joke, explaining your poem takes all the fun out of it. ;-)

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by jennifer on
Sorry, although I have both Bowie and 'Dolls CDs, my knowledge falls through the generation gap. Needless to say, I had a huge crush on him in Labyrinth when I was very young... J x