3) If architectural theory has any utility for innovative poets today (careful: this is still an open question! [see, for example, Peter Riley's book, Architectural Analogies in Poetry: Comparing Apples and Oranges in Elysium]), then what happens when Steve McCaffery, for example, writes a poem under the influence of Vitruvius and Alberti, both of whom insist that the ordering and structure of their respective theoretical treatises perfectly match that which they prescribe for building (theory as art work)? Does the poem then take shape *around* the ideological Poet-space from which it is secreted, or does the poem instantiate itself as a kind of discrete space or chamber, like an hexagonal cell in a honeycomb, built by a bee who is, for all intents and purposes, blissfully blind to his Queen? Answer, please, in 300 words, via the technique of Automatic Writing. automatic, as proscribed Which distinctions is the Johnson fellow making at any rate? if vitruvius wrote under the influence of mccaffery, what then? think de koonig i’m no Which distinctions is the Johnson fellow making at any rate? if vitruvius wrote under the influence of mccaffery, what then? think de koonig i’m not influenced by history, i influence it. the question is about the quantities of self in restrained by the strictures of architectural theory. impossible not to be influenced by poet-space, even mac low knew this. the poem may look like a chamber and certain other poets may talk it into a chamber, but it is not a chamber. i am now confronted with the problem of fulfilling many more words it is not automatic to talk to oneself, but one does. what is perhaps of more interest is the poetic pre-fab. those metrical-types have been pre-fabbing for years to the extent that an improvisation in an accent or stress is made to be an innovation. they upset me these pre-fabbists. walking around a metrical poem is akin to the mall – no viciousness intended mike, but my sensibilities have been offended by a certain crassness in this ‘debate’ between the versists and the whitmanists, this is an argument like gay marriage and in the end we must ask who gives a fuck (i choose my words carefully, ‘damn’ is not it). not even the mall, the mall where no shopping is essential and all space is designed for one to end up in. lets not end up for a while. malls are extreme durandian places, and the house is the place the versists start from (I don’t do pun disclaimers). this wall goes here and has gone here and always will go here. the master contractor will make the better wall, but the structure is the same walls, different nails, glue, etc... I’m amazed how ranting I can get doing automatic. Sorry. sanbyaku. 1) Go back to Quiz #6 and review the outline given there of Total Design as insistent concern in 20th century architecture, in both its implosive and explosive traditions. Now consider the following dictum/ars poetica of Barrett Watten, an experimental poet and theorist who has been as interested in issues of architecture and social space as any American poet since the Vietnam war: that poetry is, in its essence, the manifestation of a mind in control of its language. What is the relationship between the connotations of such a terrifying pronouncement and the overall look of Architectural Digest magazine? Illustrate your answer with photographed interiors of three corporate conference rooms in the magazine. Not having access, nor entirely desiring it, to Architectural Digest, what one can surmise is that the Watten pronouncement, upon which I hope in the name of all equitableness he has reneged, is as much about the illusion of control and transparency as the contents of AD. A ‘mind’ or a thinking body is never ‘in control’ it only hopes that it is. hyper-awareness is not ‘control.’ Poetry’s relationship to language comes down to, in some way, an intense awareness of language being used. Poets are not especially sensitive. In fact, we are downright clumsy. One need only scan any poetry discussion group as a demonstration of how even the ‘best’ are really children fumbling with footballs. [May extend this answer]