Rhapsodomancy

Abstract

When formulating my thesis project three years ago, I proposed a poetics of failure. I hoped to investigate underlying ideologies of failure, redefining it as a means of fortuitous creation. Inspired by the Swedish poet Oyvind Fahlstrom, who stated in 1953 that "it is best if form and content are one" (75), I began to seek out suitable forms for my poetry. Eventually,] found two failed writing systems: Isaac Pitman's Shorthand and John Malone's Unifon. Both alphabets have distinct graphic qualities. Shorthand consists of rudimentary, visual units-lines and dashes-whereas Unifon consists mostly of characters derived r f om the English alphabet. The poetry in Rhapsodomancy argues that these two failed writing systems strive for the magical illusion of a perfect writing able to pair each phoneme with one symbol. My manuscript contends that, while this phonocentric endeavour might have failed, these obsolete alphabets remain invaluable resources for visual poetry.