CONCREPO IN BPJ

Speaking of glittery word-hoards cached in back issues archives, the Fall 1966 issue of Beloit Poetry Journal (Vol. 17, No. 1, edited by Stephen Bann) was devoted to Concrete Poetry. Don't be wary; the visual puns and calligrams and serious typographic playfulness on display are more evolved than the portfolio of contemporary 'vispo' works featured in Poetry in 2008.

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More on words and art. In its exhibition catalogue for the 51st New York Book Fair, Bromer Booksellers has listed Thomas Ingmire's calligraphic interpretation of Octavio Paz's The Word (thumbnail above). If the list price of $5,500 seems beyond your wallet's reach, you can content yourself with learning more about Ingmire's work at Scriptorium St. Francis. To see more examples of contemporary fine calligraphy, visit the artists' websites listed at the website of The Society of Scribes and Illuminators, for a start.

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The English artist and writer David Jones -- a core member of my personal canon -- also blended calligraphy into his work. In the video below, you can watch "David Jones at Capel y Ffin," an episode of the BBC series "Framing Wales: Art in the 20th Century."

I came to this video via a post on the blog David Jones: Artist and Poet, maintained by Kathleen Henderson Staudt under the banner of The David Jones Society in North America. Staudt's book on Jones and modern poetics, is quite valuable.