WHAT I BELIEVE / TRANSPIRATION TRANSPIRING / MINNESOTA, by ROBERT GRENIER. Introduction by Leslie Scalapino.

Boxed collection of 66 8.5x11 inch loose photocopied sheets, photocopied on one side only. The 66 sheets include 1 sheet that was intentionally left blank and 4 blank green sheets that separate the sections. The introduction by Leslie Scalapino is printed on sheets that are pasted onto the inside of the box's front and rear covers. The loose sheets are held in the publisher's black paper covered cardboard box that is titled in white on the top and spine.

Published by O BOOKS, Oakland, California, 1991.

[There are sheets in this collection of poems with copyright dates of 1988 and 1989, but it is known that this collection of photocopied poems was published by O Books in 1991.]

The work is in three parts: WHAT I BELIEVE (originally published by Potes & Poets Press, 1988); TRANSPIRATION TRANSPIRING (not previously published but originally copyrighted 1989); and MINNESOTA.

Grenier is a "Language School" poet. His poems in this collection consist mainly of scrawls that were photocopied from his notebooks and handwritten sheets.

Condition: The 66 sheets are in NEAR FINE condition, bright, clean, clear and unmarked; The box is in GOOD MINUS condition, there are scrapes and rubs along its edges, and a couple smudge marks to its top, but it is solid and functioning well.

An interestingly designed publication from the late 20th century "Language Poetry" avant-garde movement.

About ROBERT GRENIER (from Wikipedia):

******Robert Grenier, b.1941, is an American poet associated with the Language School. He was founding co-editor of the influential magazine THIS (1971-1974). THIS provided one of the first gatherings in print of writers, artists, and poets now identified (or loosely referred to) as belonging to the Language School.

Grenier's "Language" poetry is as much visual as verbal, involving "drawn" and "scawled" poems in various formats.

In an essay from the first issue of THIS, Grenier declared: "I HATE SPEECH". Ron Silliman, commenting on Robert Grenier's three words, wrote: "These words...announced a breach and a new moment in American writing."******

About LANGUAGE POETRY (extracts from Wikipedia):

******Language poetry is an avant-garde literary movement that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, focusing on the nature of language itself, rather than traditional narrative or emotional content, and emphasizing the materiality of words and challenging conventional syntax and semantics to provoke new meanings and experiences for the reader. It's considered to have emerged in response to what some poets saw as a return to traditional poetic forms in mainstream American poetry.

Language poets prioritizes the experimental use of language, formal and informal language, jargon, and various forms and types of language, often employing experimental techniques to subvert established norms and question how language shapes our perception of reality.******