Horizons: The Poetics and Theory of the Intermedia (Poetics of the New)

Written for the lay reader as well as for academic literary theorists, this book bridges the gulf between the artistic avant-garde in music, visual arts, and experimental literature and the general public. Higgins delves into multiple areas, but here is an example of one kind of poem he works with:

those pieces

that move like this

those pieces

i say

are snowflakes

i say

those pieces

that move like this

those pieces

Along with many other artistsJohn Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jackson Mac Low come to mindDick Higgins has investigated and invented a variety of genres and forms, working especially in intermedia, the fusion of two or more discrete media. His poetics travel some distance from the poetry of the past. Here he uses the fusion of the receiver’s” and the artist’s horizons, their knowledge, feelings, experiences, and imaginings to provide a vivid account of artistic experimentation over the last thirty years.