Oppoetics

Roy Arenella, "OPEN / POEM" (Nov 2006)

This card from Roy is the 334th he mailed out this year. My numbers are much lower, but still it amazes me to think of the quantity of mailart, the number of pieces, one person might distribute in a year.

This is a simple card from the hand of Roy. He draws a few letters and a couple of arcing arrows (showing, I'm supposing, the different possible entryways into a visual poem). This piece is an example of Roy's oppo (optical poetry), which is clearly verbal, often quietly visual, and designed precisely to be a textual object of contemplation. Note that this poem spells two almost anagrammatic words, and that the first two lines of the poem (reading against the grain) give us the name of this form of poetry ("OPPO").

Quiet and insistent. Like a cat urging you to pet its head.

un violon d'ingres