"The Invention of Film" by Matthea Harvey
The cave woman throws her berries into the fire. She is tired of
berries. They taste not-sweet, not-good. She glowers at the flames.
In the fire the berries are beginning to wrinkle. One has a chin,
another a grimace like the man in Cave By Stream. One branch of
berries starts to glow, then the berries begin to swell. One explodes
with a loud pop. The cave woman screams. Another pops. The cave
man peers into the fire. The cave woman creeps back and watches
with him until the berries have popped and are just bits of ash. She
throws another branch on the fire. Take Two. Action.
"Mystery Train" by Sherman Alexie
Three wonderful selections from Surrealist Love Poems.
Charles Bernstein is well known for his poetry, given his associations with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, but the following aren't poems but essays.
The first two, in particular, are well worth reading for the way they deal with the issues of contemporary life in the so-called information age (respectively, accelerated lifestyles and new media). The third is an argument against the mainstreaming of poetry, which may be tangentially connected with the culture industry arguments.
