The Brooklyn-based publisher DABA is bringing out the most complete edition of Brion Gysin’s permutated poems published and recorded to date. The book is gorgeous to look at, sets the poems in their rightful context, and does justice to Ian Sommerville’s computer collaboration.
“The whole idea of the permutations came to me visually on seeing the so-called Divine Tautology, in print. It looked wrong, to me, non-symmetrical. The biggest word, That, belonged in the middle but all I had to do was switch the last two words and It asked a question: ‘I Am That, Am I?’ The rest followed.” — Brion Gysin
• • • ‘I Am That I Am’ • • • ‘I Am That, Am I?’ • • •
Table of Contents
Click to enlarge.
That is great! Is that Great? Great is that! Greet the Great!
Yessirreee!
Brion’s inversion was the genius move.
PS: that book cover art deserves a prize.
And isn’t that the swingingest table of contents you ever saw? Hell, ain’t it the swingingest bunch of poem titles you ever saw? mid-20th-century hip … makes me think of gerry mulligan west coast cool.
Delighted to hear it, thanks!
A book that should have existed already, or did exist parenthetically, now in the flesh, as it were.