Mom Jokes 1962-67
October 1997, Harbor Club, Tampa

The concept was simple:  Take poetry and put it on the walls.  We typed directly on bits of paper detritus to form patterns of premature decay.  Often the text was muddied, subordinate to a favorable texture.  These scraps were then framed and hung.   Invitations were mailed out.  A booklet was printed to accompany the show. 

The interesting thing about this show  was that the people who came in actually made the loop and read all the poems.  A person could collect this poetry together in a 'zine--print or electronic--and not hope for that.  It was an experiment of source--gallery space (in this case a bar!) as chapbook of experimental verse.

I lived in New Mexico at the time and was unable to attend.  My poems were sent by mail and assembled in Tampa.  To complete the circuit, my mother then brought the entire show back to New Mexico in a suitcase.  To lighten the load, however, she removed all the glass from the frames! The glass, its cracks and grit, were essential to the show.  Not only did it provide necessary texture--the show was supposed to represent works of art at least 30 years old--but it was just plain silly without it.  The title of the show proved strangely prescient.