Dial-a-Poem

Monday afternoon, I spend a few hours at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Seemed really busy for the beginning of the week, at the end of the day. Lots of tourists and families milling around, snapping pictures of themselves next to famous works of art. Craziness.

A must-see for me was Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language. This exhibit looks at works of art using language as more than just a means of communication but a foundation for creativity. The graphic representation of works beyond the page is a love of mine, so the space felt very kinetic and dynamic

The picture about is from Dial-a-Poem. Until the 1980s, Dial-a-Poem ran in NYC and evolved into an archive of some of the most contemporary poets and artists of the day. The recordings, which also are at UBUWeb, will be featured at MoMA until August 29. It was fun seeing the (rotary) phone banks, and hearing a poem selected at random. The static and so-so sound quality made the recordings sound true to the time period. Some poems where long--too long for a phone call--but I did linger long enough to hear poems by Ron Padgett and Joe Brainard.

According to MoMA Website's, you can still call a local New York number, 347-POET001, to hear a Dial-a-Poem poem. (Dial-a-Poem is free, but your mobile phone fees will apply.)


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Just called Dial-a-Poem and heard Michael McClure's “Lion Poem.” Very cool.