this, The Bucket, might just be unique, a first
greetings from Shaheed Dweep
because me, i believe uniqueness
in our world now
goes a long way
has a value in itself
demands to be pursued, made, done
...
so The Bucket is 766 original ideas
poems stories jokes anecdotes quotes verses choruses fragments
and ideas again
digitalised and randomised
...
where nothing is over a 100 words
or more than 13 lines
...
and they come to you
random one after the random other
for as long as you like
...
and this, it would seem
and many writer friends concur
has never been done
...
...
and it is this prospective uniqueness
which compelled me to break my dogma of decades
my strict avoidance of publishing
and go for it
this
...
for i’ve done around 3000 shows
but published nothing
written and then toured 17 or so shows
but published nothing
i’ve had 45+ five-star reviews, 200+ four-star
but published nothing
i’ve been around gazillions of poets
including some very good ones
all of whom published something
yet me, i published nothing
i’ve been briefly famous in Scotland
and “Fringe-famous” in Canada
but published nothing
and i’ve made a living purely from the door money of shows
for decades
but published nothing
...
it
poetry publishing
was a world which simply did not interest me
while my world
performance poets
storytellers
comedians
and clowns beautiful clowns
was a fascinating world
brimming with newnesses
which wholly absorbed me
...
...
while the Bucket is 719 pieces
and after Sunday it will be 766
...
which is a very large wagon-load
of kegs of powder
to have kept so dry for so long
...
who else might have such a stock
of seven six eight hundred unseen pieces
amassed over three or four decades
they could do this with?
...
anyone on earth?
few, if any
...
...
i always knew it might not be unique
after all, our world is old
and someone might well have done it before
on a similar or smaller scale
...
so i asked a bunch of poet-friends, who might know
who all said they had not heard of such a thing before
yet all said that it would be the quality of the pieces
not the uniqueness
that would be what makes this work
...
...
so this excitement at creating a possible unique
combined with the excitement from so many of the ideas
gave me an aesthetic drive
which was, to my surprise
more than enough
to tip me over the edge
and get me to change the habits of a lifetime
break my aesthetic principles
my dogged dogma of decades
and burst me out of performance poetry
into poetry
...
though this doesn’t, of course
have to be categorised as poetry
and is simply
literature
...
...
little is new in our world
which is not a product of new technology
...
though i certainly believe the new is possible
and disdain the old old saw
There Is Nothing New Under The Sun
for i believe human beings have only
scraped at the surface of the possible
ideas
stories
words
...
yet the newness of The Bucket IS a product of technology
that one can have randomised digitalised pieces of writing
one after another on a screen
though this has probably been possible for
errr...?
over twenty-five years...?
...
yet for as long as there has been paper
one could have had a box of pieces of paper
and take the pieces out one by one
...
...
...
and i did do this
as part of the editing process
cut all the pieces and keep them in a box
...
and what was the upshot?
the upshot was me
pursuing bits of escaping wind-powered paper
as they got blown across a Cambodian hillside
...
...
The Bucket awaits you…
someone said
“Loving the bucket, Jem! I am consuming it extremely slowly - but each bite a delight so far. Congrats on making this a unique new reality!”
...
Enjoy…
