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"Dead (The Poem As Object)"Thax Douglas

  • Project Space 613 Allen Street Austin, TX, 78702 United States (map)

Thax Douglas has been seriously writing poetry since the day after his 30th birthday in 1987. Always attracted to the so-called “abstract” he denied his predilection for a while until he had no choice. In 1991 he composed many “poetry portraits” of people but got bored. In 1997 he wrote a “portrait” of a band and was overjoyed to find his metier. The unique speck that makes a band beloved and unique is what is translated into words in his poems. Written on the night of the show ideally the poem captures the vibrations (a literal not a slang term) of the night and bands and their fans will pick up on that. 

Thax says:”I love the idea of a poem as a 3 dimensional object- After all the electrical charge of inspiration takes place in those 3 dimesnions-so what better way to give body to that idea than to strect the manuscripts of the poems to a giant size-beyond broadsides, the poems become sculptures, the letters chiseled out against a background of white hills. The poems proudly stare out at the viewer as tall or taller than the viewer (no longer just reader-“reading” comes later).

Some but not all of the poems are illustrated by Joe Swec. Ambient music by Kevin Foote.

Earlier Event: May 15
"Una Corda"K. Terumi Shorb
Later Event: May 29
"Gypsy"Warren Aldrich