Work of the Tribe 001
By the Tribe
Searching for ideas towards collaboration, a few projects have started on the MLA. Collaborative projects seem to get slowly off the ground, maybe because of the idea of 'work' attached to them; although to me it seems like a game. My interest for literary games in the spirit of Oulipo and dada made me imagine some projects; I was inspired as well by some threads in a previous version of the forum and by a French radio show 'Des Papous dans la Tête'. I hope more members will join and start new ideas for group work.
My intention was to let a thread grow untill enough material is at hand to put into the next edition of MQ, providing a new recurring chapter in every edition. As mentioned before this seems to have a difficult start; I thought by offering the first exercize here in MQ11 the motivation to participate might grow.
Amor et hilaritas
borsky (2007) |
Exercize 001 - a Textation
This wordgame consists of choosing a text, say one short paragraph; member A paraphrases this text - this could mean (s)he analyzes its grammar word by word, or provides a poetical evocation, or makes a riddle or a rebus out of it etc. The description is send at the same to members B, C, D etc. who are asked to write a short paragraph based on their understanding of the description and private fantasy. All paragraphs are published after each other, following the description, and at the end the original text appears. This kind of envolvement could provide quite some fun and offer the reader the multiversal perpectives of the MLA members.
The following was choosen from a less-known text by Bob Wilson.
Textation
The first sentence describes the repeated occurrence in spacetime of body part J of character A, followed by the highly subjective interpretation of both this character's esthetical qualities and an expression of relief based on its state of neural activity, finished by its impossibility to gather visual information. The second phrase describes how body part K of character A remained into contact with a device linked to apparatus Z, and how apparatus Z remained for the most part into contact with body part L of character A. In the third phrase character B appears, who secretly gathers visual information, while at the same time the first dialogue comes from character A, uttering one word with amongst others the letters A, L and S describing a transparant material.
In the fourth phrase, character B replies with the same word in question form, while committing tactile activities with communication tools used in previous century. In phrase five character B mentally compares body parts M and M' of character A with leathery coated edible parts of a plant.
In phrase six character A repeats yet the same word again, while in a discarnate state of consciousness.
Phrase seven consists of again one word uttered probably by character A, describing this character's will, with amongst others the letters L and E.
Phrase 8 brings up shortly character C, an observer of behaviours, who offers a vessel with a wide mouth to character A and who gathers visual information a small degree above body part N of character A. Character B in turn magickally manages to gather visual information concerning a hidden body part L of character C in phrase 9.
In phrase 10, character B expresses a wish for the present physical location of character C, playing attention to how this expression seems to snap on the last word. Phrase 11 describes shortly how character A combines what's described by the word uttered three times already with apparatus Z. In phrase 12 character B respectfully gathers information concerning character A's enzymatic breakdown.
In phrase 13 character A answers with a maybe, and states how activities applied to an object of inquiry or study has the upper hand, while at the same time showing a bizarre unscrupulous expression. In phrase 14 we are informed how character A combines what's described by the word uttered three times already with body part O, and how character B uneasily gathers visual information of character A's body part P. In the last phrase the extremities of body part K of character A comes into contact with body part P, bringing slack to body part O, and we are informed how the bizarre unscrupulous expression of character A can be compared to the mental state of a figure central to a world religion. |
Example
Simon Moon got stuck - again - with his head in a bucket, which wasn't a very nice sight, though luckily he was stoned beyond recognition - and thanks to the bucket, he couldn't see anything anyway. His left hand rested on the level of a fire extinguisher, which in turn rested on his left foot. Hagbard Celine witnessed all this, from behind the sofa; Moon uttered "Alabaster!" "Alabaster???" asked Celine, putting away his cell phone. He thought Moon's elbows looked like bananas.
"Alabaster", confirmed Simon Moon, completely gone.
"Help", he added almost loosing his balance.
The psychiatrist offered the ashtray to Moon, looking up, her mouth wide open admiring Moon's purple aura emanating above his head. Sigismundo Celine imagined how her cerebellum might look like.
"Go to hell", said Celine hating this experiment, with a trembling voice. Moon finally rested the fire extinguisher on an alabaster slab before more damage occurred. "I hope you won't throw up", said Celine.
"I dunno", said Moon, "I really need to examine this situation first", removing the bucket and looking into it. He hurt his ankle on the slab, started hopping around while Celine admired the shape of his forehead. With his fingers at his forehead, still hopping around, Moon felt a bit better about his ankle. Having smoked all that shit, he looked more and more like some Jumpin' Jesus phenomenon. |
The version by Acrilliq
In the creeping darkness Tobias meditated on his Naval, which felt to him like a tiny wishing well, cupping an unidentifiable liquid upon his belly.
"Little elves could go fishing in here? "Hey". That tickles. Hey! Mama; what's in my naval?" Tobias said half awake.
His black toe dangled in the river that trickled by with the sound of a hamster sized Hash-bubbler.
Mama Sutra is crouching like a cat behind a tree nearby, holding her tiny video camera, waiting. Suddenly she howls:
"Luciferase"
"Luciferase" snapped Tobias almost simultaneously while fumbling in darkness with his bandanna.
His skull looked like a garden pea that had sprouted some hairs and was now wrestling to pop out of the top part of its pod unsuccessfully; his head still tightly bound by the headflag.
"Luci-phrase", chimed Tobias, accenting the 'ci" part of the word. He paused.
"Levitate", he exclaimed in wonderment.
John, heard Tobias in the distance and meandered over, reached down to where he was lying and handed him a golden teapot.
"Here you go son, take this teapot, it'll help you relax a bit in the darkness."
Mama Sutra comes out from behind the tree, she holds the teapot up to the sunlight inspecting it like it was a map. In a thunder-clap she could directly experience "John's" view. She was in his brain, wondering around his cerebral cortex like it was an adventure playground made of grey spam.
"I'm being John Dillingervich" Mama Sutra sings out with joy.
"Luciferase must renew the river through mycofiltration, it might be our only hope to save the planet damn it!" croaked Tobias.
"Your sweating like a Enron executive Tobias, calm down, breath, let me see that head-flag knot a moment, keep still." Mama Sutra said softly.
Tobias's face scrunched up like a bulldog chewing a wasp, and he said:
"just undo this headknot please, undo it quickly with your hands"
"heart and Luciferase together forever as one, two hearts, living in just-one-mind." Tobias sang, now sitting cross legged in a perfect Lotus position, with his toe up on his heart. Tobias finally found his peace and removed the blindflag from his head with his foot, letting out a chuckle and a smile reminiscent of the Dali lama.
|
| Luciferase is a generic name for enzymes commonly used in nature for bioluminescence. The name itself is derived from Lucifer, which means light-bearer. The most famous one is firefly luciferase (EC 1.13.12.7) from the firefly Photinus pyralis. In luminescent reactions, light is produced by the oxidation of a luciferin (a pigment), sometimes involving Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The rates of this reaction between luciferin and oxygen are extremely slow until they are catalyzed by luciferase, often mediated by the presence of calcium ions (an analog of muscle contraction)[1]. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferase |
Bob Wilson's original from "The sex Magicians"
Josie lay on her back again, the beautiful blonde body seemingly totally relaxed at last, her eyes closed. But her hand was still on the control handle and Kong was still three-quarters of the way buried in her wet snatch. As Dr. Prong looked, and tried not to stare, she murmured, "Vaseline. "
"Vaseline?" Roger Prong asked, fiddling with his pencil and pad. Those nipples were almost the size of almonds, he thought.
"Vaseline, " she repeated, almost in a trance.
"Please!"
The psych student fetched a jar and handed it to her, his eyes fixed nervously an inch above her head. Dr. Prong could see the slight bulge in the boy's trousers.
"Er, you can leave now, " Dr. Prong said, hearing his own voice crack on "now. " Josie was rubbing the Vaseline on the shaft of King Kong. "Aren't you hungry yet?" the doctor asked, awed.
"I guess. But science comes first, " she said with a strange crooked grin. Now she was rubbing the Vaseline into her rectum, and her rounded buttocks, Dr. Prong noted nervously, were just as lovely as her front view. Her fingers went deep, deep into the crack, massaging, relaxing the sphincter muscle; the smile on her face had almost the bliss of a Chinese Buddha. |
As said, it's not size that counts… Hope 'work of the tribe' might become a recurring topic in MQ. |
