Christian Bök - Eunoia

Profs who go to Knossos to look for books on Phobos or Kronos go on to jot down monophthongs ( kof or rho ) from two monoglot scrolls on Thoth, old god of Copts — both scrolls torn from hornbooks, now grown brown from mold. Profs who gloss works of Woolf, Gogol, Frost or Corot look for books from Knopf: Oroonoko or Nostromo — not Hopscotch (nor Tlooth ). Profs who do schoolwork on Pollock look for photo-books on Orozco or Rothko (two tomfools who throw bold colors, blotch on blotch, onto tondos of drop-cloth). Log onto Hotbot dotcom to look for books on who’s who or wot’s wot (for books of bons mots show folks lots of mottos to follow). How now brown cow.

Kultur spurns Ubu — thus Ubu pulls stunts. Ubu shuns Skulptur: Uruk urns (plus busts), Zulu jugs (plus tusks). Ubu sculpts junk für Kunst und Glück . Ubu busks. Ubu drums drums, plus Ubu strums cruths (such hubbub, such ruckus): thump, thump; thrum, thrum . Ubu puns puns. Ubu blurts untruth: much bunkum (plus bull), much humbug (plus bunk) — but trustful schmucks trust such untruthful stuff; thus Ubu (cult guru) must bluff dumbstruck numbskulls (such chumps). Ubu mulcts surplus funds (trust funds plus slush funds). Ubu usurps much usufruct. Ubu sums up lump sums. Ubu trumps dumb luck.

Duluth dump trucks lurch, pull U-turns. Such trucks dump much undug turf: clunk, clunk — thud . Scum plus crud plugs up ducts; thus Ubu must flush such sulcus ruts. Sump pumps pump: chuff, chuff . Such pumps suck up mush plus muck — dung lumps (plus clumps), turd hunks (plus chunks): grugru grubs plus fungus slugs mulch up humus pulp. Ubu unplugs flux. Ubu scrubs up curbs; thus Ubu must brush up sulfur dust plus lugnut rust: scuff, scuff . Ubu burns unburnt mundungus. Ubu lugs stuff; Ubu tugs stuff. Ubu puts up fulcrums. Ubu puts up mud huts, but mugwumps shun such glum suburb slums: tut, tut .

Dutch smut churns up blushful succubus lusts; thus buff hunks plus hung studs must fuck lustful sluts: Ruth plus Lulu. Ubu struts. Ubu snuffs up drugs. Ubu hugs Ruth; thus Ruth purrs. Ubu untucks Ruth’s muumuu; thus Ruth must untruss Ubu’s tux. Ubu fluffs Lulu’s tutu. Ubu cups Lulu’s dugs; Ubu rubs Lulu’s buns; thus Lulu must pull Ubu’s pud. Ubu sucks Ruth’s cunt; Ubu cuffs Ruth’s butt. Ubu stuffs Ruth’s bum (such fun). Ubu pumps Lulu’s plush, sunburnt tush. Ubu humps Lulu’s plump, upthrust rump. Ubu ruts. Ubu huffs; Ubu puffs. Ubu blurts: push, push . Ubu thrusts. Ubu bucks. Cum spurts. Ubu cums.

Ubu gulps up brunch: duck, hummus, nuts, fugu, bulgur, buns (crusts plus crumbs), blutwurst, brüh-wurst, spuds, curds, plums: munch, munch . Ubu sups. Ubu slurps rum punch. Ubu chugs full cups (plus mugs), full tubs (plus tuns): glug, glug . Ubu gluts up grub; thus Ubu’s plump gut hurts. Ubu grunts: ugh, ugh . Ubu burps up mucus sputum. Ubu upchucks lunch. Ubu slumps. Ubu sulks. Ubu shrugs. Ubu slurs drunk chums. Ubu snubs such drunks; thus curt churls cuss: ‘shut up, Ubu, shut up’. Gruff punks club Ubu. Butch thugs drub Ubu. Ku-klux cults kung-fu punch Ubu. Rumdum bums bust up pubs.

Gulls churr: ululu, ululu . Ducks cluck. Bulls plus bucks run thru buckbrush; thus dun burrs clutch fur tufts. Ursus cubs plus Lupus pups hunt skunks. Curs skulk (such mutts lurk: ruff, ruff ). Gnus munch kudzu. Lush shrubs bud; thus church nuns pluck uncut mums. Bugs hum: buzz, buzz . Dull susurrus gusts murmur hushful, humdrum murmurs: hush, hush . Dusk suns blush. Surf lulls us. Such scuds hurl up cumulus suds ( Sturm und Druck ) — furls unfurl: rush, rush; curls uncurl: gush, gush . Such tumult upturns unsunk hulls; thus gulfs crush us, gulp , dunk us — burst lungs succumb.

SYZYGY PYX

GYP

GYPSY

PYGMY GYMS

JYNX SYNCH

TRY

PSYCH

TRYST PTYX

SYLPHS FLY

FLYBY

SKY

BY TSK TSK

SPY GLYPHS

LYSYL

BRR

GRR GLYCYL

NYM NYMPHS

WHY

WYRMS

HMM MY ZZZ

STY STYRYL

FRY

FYRDS

LYMPH CYST

WYRDS WYCH

LYNCH

WRY

MYTHY LYNX

MYST WYNDS

DRY

DRYLY

SHY BY SHH

CRY BY NTH

CWM

CRWTH

CRYPT STYX

MYTH HYMNS

THY

MYRRH

MY RHYTHMS

loveless vessels

we vow

solo love

we see

love solve loss

else we see

love sow woe

selves we woo

we lose

losses we levee

we owe

we sell

loose vows

so we love

less well

so low

so level

wolves evolve

Anywhere near blank rage

you veer, oblivial.

Jade array, calico azure

evanescent talents.

Unaware, corrosives flow

to my shackled hand.

Key bombing an auto tour

to paint her colour.

Gulfs of amber contours

evaporate the tint.

Linseed glass or oblong

freezing dumbbells.

Upper pressing cashiers

do deliver verbals.

Dance the clear, elusive

rinse of paintings.

Icicle fibre meant divine

daymares varied.

Pity paid to see my dynamo

poised to rid us.

Cool chimes, a primal green

for studios.

Spur my clear plan astride

a stranger.

Cylinders versus diamonds

a decision.

Hollow, my grey ovule does

decide you.

‘To the V that stands for viewing what is all around us, eyes turned outward, toward the conscious surface of things, surrealism has relentlessly opposed W.’ — André Breton

‘A meaningless distinction on W — leads to automatic disqualification.’ — Georges Perec

It is the V you double, not the U, as if to use two valleys in a valise is to savvy the vacuum of a vowel at a powwow in between sawteeth.

It is to ask the painter of a watercolour hue: ‘why owe you twice what a sheep is or a tree, if the fee you double has to hew you a puzzle?’

An enigma, like a game in E, its jigsaw zigzag never fits the excess void left behind by X, the exit on the way from ‘why’ to what is said.

If you glean an anagram from each angle, do you dabble with your double view of what you hate: a swastika that awaits your Olympiad of riddles?

Is this letter a residuum of what troubles you? If you slice it down the middle, does it not hereafter indicate a twofold victory over life?

If it maps the rise and fall of fortune, like a yo-yo, why oh, why oh, must you find four palm trees in a park, if not to make of them your symbol?

It is the name for an X whose V does not view the surface of a lake but the mirror on a wall, where U & you become a tautonym, a continuum.

Czech pewterers mend pewter kettles; then the street sellers sell these mended vessels: ewers, cressets (even epergnes). Welsh veneerers mend veneer benches; then the street venders vend these mended effects: desks, dressers (even lecterns). When the Welshmen need new wrenches, the street peddlers get these men edgers, bevels, levels, levers (even tweezers); then the Welshmen re-mend the settees. The peddlers even peddle chessmen (hence, les élèves d’échecs get new chess sets, then referee the chess meets). The street sweepers sweep cement wherever renters rent the tenements.