Walking Bass

I'm figuring out the walking bass (on piano). The root of the chord goes on the "1." The 4 can be a note a half step lower than that root. Ascending lines are better than descending ones, all other things being equal; stepwise motion is better than longer leaps. If there is the same chord over two measures, you can have a good deal more freedom in the second measure. If there are two chords in a measure, you can basically do the roots and the half-steps below them. The trick is to play with a metronome over a given set of chord changes repeatedly.

How to Surrealism

Cashberg's other masterpiece of the early 70 is How to Surrealism.  This long poem goes for the opposite effect attained by the semantic saturation of Brackishness Scruple.  It aims instead of the semantic diffuseness and non-repetition. He said that his aim was to avoid the development of any thematic threads, but that has not prevented critics from reducing it to a kind of quest narrative, in which the poet-hero makes his way through a labyrinthine landscape in search of the perfect musical phrase.  I offer a brief sampling of this 700 page poem:



Arrest. Hysterocommuncal. Brackish. Mudlip. Froggish. Imp.  Stereoderivative.

Greenlight. Densehouse. Immune. Ity.  Foreigneity.  Garage. Toadfill. The.

Asteriskite.  How? Mumblebirds. Championkite. No. Isthmus.  Isthmus.

Sur. To. Tainment.  Brockstyle. Fandom. Austerishity. Sheepishtude.

Hunger. Hattrick. Mysteriousheit.  Under. Mambo.

Ach!  Moonbroom. Fingerscale.  Fingerclaw.  Ugh.

Peninsularlarlar.  Umpteenth. Clinging.

Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.  Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.

Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.  Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.

Arugula. Impress. Naturaleza.  Zippified.

Mustardine.  Goateesimilitude.

Why. Bitters. Turpentudinous.

Derive.

Ascot. Benjaminish. Restitude. Amore. Puck. Margarine. Awe. Mainline. Lagging. Hurt. Flog.

Asterdine. Mug. Hantine. Lake.

Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.  Howitzer. Tulane. Surfeit.

Never. Impactifullness.

Haste.

Deterioration. Binding. Differential. Genius. Sacred.

Missment. Thole. Snifter.  Banal.

Mugrunt. In.

However. Twostep. Surgeon. Aggress.

Hypnotonormativity. Whether.

Vista. Masculinitad.  Obviate. Osteoneurosis.  Illfit.  

BRACKISHNESS SCRUPLE

Jack Cashberg's BRACKISHNESS SCRUPLE is one of the lost masterpieces of postmodern literature. Published by Black Sparrow Press in 1970s in a limited edition of 40 copies, numbered and signed by the author, this 500-page poem was never anthologized, due to the author's refusal to compromise the work's integrity. It is with some trepidation, then, that I offer this all too brief excerpt. To the critic who called the work "a tedious exercise in semantic saturation" he replied: "don't you think I know that, you fucking idiot." To the Freudian critic who associated brackishness with the id and scruple with the superego he was equally withering. Though often accused of copying Coolidge and Ashbery, he always maintained that his own Self-Portrait in a Bowler Hat was published 10 years before Ashbery's similarly titled work. 


Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Hindemith. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  So much depends. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Upon. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple. A. Brackishness scruple.  Red. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  So many. Brackishness scruple.  Wheel. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Ple. Barrow. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Hindemith. Glazed.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. With Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Rain. Brackishness scruple.  I had not thought death

had undone. Brackishness scruple.  Ish. Brackishness scruple.  Water. Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  So many Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Beside. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  The. Brackishness stumble.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness stumble.  White. Among twenty snowy mountains. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Of Man's first disobedience. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Stumble. Brackishness

scruple.  Hindemith. Brackishness scruple.  Ish. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness stumble.  Brackishness scruple.  Hindemith. Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Ish. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  And the. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Brack. Back.

Ple. Ple. Ple Ple. Ness. Brackishness scruple.  Apple pie. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Hindemith. Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Fruit. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Of That. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Scruple stumble.  Scruple stumble.  Scruple stumble.  Scruple

stumble.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Ness.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. The only

moving thing. Brack. Brack. Ple. Ple. Ple Ple. Ness. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Hindemith. Glazed. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  With

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Rain.

Brackishness scruple.  I had not thought death had undone. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness

scruple.  Water. Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  So many

Brackishness scruple. Brackishness scruple. Beside.Hindemith stumble. Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.

Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple.  Brackishness scruple. Brack. Brack. Ple. Ple. Ple Ple.

Sincerity Kincade

SOFT DREAMS


I have soft dreams, the texture of ancient silk.

They take me to fragrant palm isles, billowing

and shimmering sheets of whiteness and bliss.

I awake from them rested and well-put-together

like an actress in a movie-scene awakening in utter felinity

and femininity.



...Others are coarse, delivered in strange packages on my doorstep.

But those will be discussed in their due time...

***

I've discovered this poem by Sincerity Kincade in the Spencer Library here at KU, written by hand in the margins of a book by a more prominent poet. I haven't authenticated the handwriting yet but the poem is signed by her and has her characteristic lightness of touch and ethereality.

Kincade has often been attacked by sexist critics for her unabashed celebrations of her own womanhood, or sentimentality, and for a certain preciosity. In fact, her poetry is a wily trap designed to expose this very sexism, according to some feminist critics. Others have celebrated it as the heartfelt confessions of a tragically misunderstood soul.

No, the plagiarist is not the author of the wikipedia articles she plagiarized

How do we know this? Well, that was not defense offered by herself or her supporters.  It would be exceedingly strange in any case to write wikipedia articles about things that you are going to treat in the highly personal modality of a memoir.  Also, she would know that "Richard Cory" is a work from the 1890s, not the 1930s. In other words, she does not have even a wikipedia level knowledge of some of the texts she is treating.

Someone pointed out on Facebook that some of those defending her are teachers and probably would flunk a student doing what she did.

I was disheartened to see Rae Armantrout among the signatories of the letter in Bialoksy's defense.  The others are more or less mainstream figures like Pinsky...  

Bowler

I've decided to start the Bowler trend.  Remember, you heard it here first. What else unites Billy the Kid with Magritte?  I'm getting a lot of serious compliments when I wear this hat around town.

This style hat was what was popular in the old west, before the Stetson became popular, then mythologized in Western movies.

The Defense

To the Editor:We, as writers and friends of literature, wish to register our concern in regard to “Author Fights Plagiarism Charges by Critic” (news article, Oct. 8). The Times, by giving a large platform to a small offense, has tainted the reputation of this accomplished editor, poet and memoirist.
It is important for your readers to understand that the charges brought against Jill Bialosky by the critic William Logan refer to a handful of commonly known biographical facts gleaned from outside sources. Given the trust that is assumed between a writer and her readers, this mishandling is not something to shrug off. Yet it bears saying that Ms. Bialosky’s inadvertent repetition of biographical boilerplate was not an egregious theft intentionally performed.
All 72 of us stand with Ms. Bialosky and her statement of apology. She is working with the publisher on adjustments to the text, which will appear in future editions of the book. It would be a terrible disservice to Ms. Bialosky and to your readers if the article kept people from appreciating her substantial contributions to American letters.
KIMIKO HAHN, DAVID BAKER
The writers are authors whose works have been edited by Jill Bialosky. The letter had 70 other signers, including Jennifer Egan, Louise Glück, Amy Hempel, Claire Messud, Robert Pinsky and Roxanne Robinson.

The Times has not tainted her reputation: she has done that to herself by plagiarism and by the low quality of her writing. By implication, a "large platform for a small offense" would preclude the Times from reporting on any such "small offense," since the Times is a big newspaper. It is also simply not true that all the plagiarism here is biographical in nature. Five of the eight instances of plagiarism found by Logan are biographical, three are not.

The idea that there would be future editions of such a miserable book is laughable.

Another thing: there are 52 poems, and 222 pages, so each poem gets four pages or so, and many of the entries are very short. There are 8 cases, and another 5 or so that Logan didn't mention, so let's say 12 total, in entries for nearly a quarter of all the poems, I'm guessing. I've already shown that a good deal of the commentary on "Richard Cory" is borrowed from wikipedia. I'm sure the memoir part (her descriptions of her actual experiences) is original, but then it seems that she grafted that unto "boilerplate" material from wikipedia and the Academy of American Poets.