Incrementally Sounding, Penn Kemp
Hem Press, 2023
Penn Kemp’s newest book is appropriately titled Incrementally. One can read it as a series of concrete poems, or as notations for sound pieces which multiply meaning, and boost/boast of their underlying acoustic dimension. Penn Kemp is a celebrated trailblazer since her first publication (Coach House, 1972). She was London's inaugural Poet Laureate and Western’s Writer-in- Residence. Her many marvellous projects include Luminous Entrance: A Sound Opera for Climate Change Action (DVD). She is engaged in eco-culture and as well as other worthy causes. With Richard-Yves Sitoski, Penn Kemp published Poems in Response to Peril, an anthology in support of Ukraine. She was chosen as the League of Canadian Poet’s Spoken Word Artist (2015). She is a regular participant of the “Poet in the School” program. Penn Kemp is a keen participant in Canada’s cultural life, with thirty books of poetry, prose and drama; seven plays and ten CDs produced, as well as a broad range of videopoems. She has many web-pages featuring her numerous creations. See: http://pennkemp.weebly.com/
Also visit: https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/stanza/2006/06-10/linktext/direct/kemp.htm
A version of “Night Orchestra,” which is a poem included in Incrementally, is available on-line with music and sound designed by composer Bill Gilliam. “Night Orchestra” is also a videopoem and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98OEWklDcYY. Here is a brief textual excerpt from “Night Orchestra” revealing Penn Kemp’s playful treatment of language:
Knight Orchid’s Ra
Knight
Tor Quest Ra
Nigh
Tore Que
ce que ça? Raw
Night Or Kid Straw
Last straw lost
dip dip dip dip deep dip deep dip deepen deepend
Acoustic versions of many of the poems in Incrementally can also be found (free of charge) at: https://angrystarlings.bandcamp.com/album/incrementally.
This collection of poems is both visual and accoustic. The afterword to Incrementally is by one of our pre-eminent poets and theorists, Steve McCaffery. McCaffery sums up this collection by speaking about mathematics and canons of proportion. He discusses Incrementally with reference to pattern recognition and digital accumulations of words, which oppose linear grammar by attending to syntagmatics. He speaks of the relationships between linguistic units used in a sequence as they shape poetic structures. McCaffery identifies what he sees as Pythagorean progressions in Penn Kemp’s creations in this collection. If one recalls the Pythagorean geometric theorem, then one notes that the square of the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides. By way of illustration, I offer this brief excerpt from Kemp’s poem, “Re Solution”;
we
weir
Virgo
weird gong
we're going too
we're going to be
we're going to begin
we're going to begin right
we're going to begin writing
we're going to begin writing and
we're going to begin writing and purr
we're going to begin writing and purr form
we're going to begin writing and performing
What can be considered a Pythagorean progression is evident in this poetry. The expansions of meaning evident are connected to the notions of “we’re” and “performing.” Among other things, Penn Kemp is a performer, who is deeply invested in language play. Kemp’s introduction to this collection helps explain her purpose. She speaks of Incrementally as a collection of sound and pattern poems that feature visual interplays along with puns or homophonic meanings. Visually, these poems are concrete structures, but acoustically, they are what Kemp calls "soundings". These texts provide notations for performances. If one listens to audio versions of poems in Incrementally, then it becomes apparent that meaning is generated by the fundamentals of language as combined with assonance and homophonics. Meaning is shaped by shifts in non-linear or associative thought. Consequently, the shifts in meaning from line to line can compel or trick audiences into hearing more than one single idea or meaning. The language-play in the poems found in this collection, defies inflexibility by delving into multiple meanings.
What you cannot hear in this book-review, but can hear if you take time to listen to one of Penn Kemp’s sound pieces, is her remarkable voice. And if you take the time to listen, you will hear her agile vocal abilities which often feature improvisations. Kemp’s book and her video recordings should include a warning for audiences who will experience multiple meanings through the acoustics that spring forth. This collection may be considered visual poetry within the concrete or optophonic traditions. One might also ask about the musicality of this type of writing. It is connected to chant, and change. Incrementally, this writing teems with an abundance of linguistic and acoustic wonders.
I’ll give the finally “sounding” to Penn Kemp. This is from her poem “Declination”:
w
wh
what
what is
what ism
what is imp
what is import
what is import
taunt
what is import
taunt too
what is import
taunt to woo
what is import
taunt to word
what is import
taunt toward
what is import
taunt to Art
As you can “hear” in this piece, Penn Kemp focuses acoustically on what is important in making a polyphonic artistic statement. It is worth noting that the publisher of this collection is Hem Press which is an independent house, founded in Birmingham, and currently based in Glasgow (U.K). The Press specializes in releasing contemporary literature from around the world. Their publications include narrative verse, visual poetry, experimental memoir, radical translation and much more. In addition to printed material, Hem Press also features Angry Starlings: an imprint which explores and releases sound poetry featuring contemporary performances and compositions. Various Hem Press / Angry Starlings releases can be streamed free of charge, but can also be purchased as high quality MP3s.
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Karl Jirgens, Prof. Emeritus, former English Dept. Head (U Windsor), and Chair of the Creative Writing Program (U Windsor), is author of five books (Coach House, Mercury, ECW, Porcupine’s Quill), and is published globally (most recently in Japan). Jirgens founded, edited, published Rampike (an international journal of art, writing, and theory) digitally archived at U Windsor. Jirgens edited two books (on painter Jack Bush, and poet Christopher Dewdney), plus, an issue of Open Letter magazine with Beatriz Hausner. His latest book of short fiction, The Razor’s Edge, was a Finalist for the Forward Prize and earned a Bronze medal for the ELIT awards. See: www.jirgens.org He recently guest-edited an issue of HA&L magazine. His poetry was selected for the anthology Best Canadian Poetry, 2023.