FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved
Books
by Lachlan Mackintoshthe tapeworm foundry
by Darren Wershler-Henry
Anansi, 96 pp.In John Updikes 1999 collection of marginalia, More Matter, he wrote that an ideal book review would consist of one long quotation the length of the entire book. In the tapeworm foundry, Darren Wershler-Henry perhaps riffs on this when he suggests: "write reviews of books using only phrases drawn from the books being reviewed...." While Wershler-Henry and Updike may share nothing but the language they write in, Updikes prescription seemed particularly apt for Wershler-Henrys wry little book. To enter the tapeworm foundry, continue reading:
"...make surrealist canapes with anchovies and lugnuts on breton crackers andor stage it on top of the world trade center with the audience circling in helicopters andor bring in etruscan things and occasionally a marble bust andor burglarize houses but instead of stealing stuff leave poetic objects andor write your book in ink that contains powdered radioactive compounds and then perform your readings of the book by holding each page up to a geiger counter andor increase the number of references to comic books andor put what you took out back in andor rewrite survival by margaret atwood so that it defines canadian identity with reference not to victim positions but to sexual positions from the kama sutra andor draw it out of a hat andor stick a magic marker up your asshole and then scuttle around like a crab in order to write texts resembling the later visual poems of robert grenier andor correct information in the direction of poetry andor publish the ed norton anthology of english literature andor drive it off the white cliffs of dover to the tune of love reign over me...."
the tapeworm foundry is a modern poetic loop, a long poem packaged as a CD booklet. If the "ed norton anthology of english literature" only brings a smile to your face, Wershler-Henry probably wont do it for you. If it made you laugh out loud, try tracking the tapeworm foundry down at www.anansi.ca.
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