Underscore: This is a long-form collaborative visual poem which includes a dialogue between at least 2 voices and one or more crows, on themes of consciousness, time, place, and friendship. As the authors say in their introduction: "The combination psyche of KSEM [Ernst & Murphy] arrows our way in varying geometric / geo-mantric modes that we prepare to depict upon a score what we decidedly hear, alongside emblematic crows that sound themselves and show themselves across the work. They are our center as they anchor narrative and feeling, spanning multisensory tree-staged colorific definitions."
2 Juries + 2 Storeys = 4 Stories Toujours (Xerolage 55) K.S. Ernst and Sheila E. Murphy 26 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, perfect binding, b/w interior, Xexoxial Editions, 2013 $15
The two visual poets combine text and image. "The design involves dual 'story lines,' two distinct yet oddly inter-relatable perceptual mechanisms." —Sheila E. Murphy
332 pp., 8 x 10 inches, perfect binding, full color interior, Fantagraphic Books, 2012
The anthology contains 250 pages of illustrations and 65 pages of commentary. It's divided into sections: Lettering, Object, Handwritten, Typography, and Collage.
K.S. Ernst 8.5 x 11 inches, 7 pp. plus five inserts, portfolio, b/w and color pieces, Luna Bisonte Prods, 2011
A compilation celebrating the tenth anniversary of the visual and experimental literature sessions convened in 2001 by Richard Kostelanetz at Atlantic Center for the Arts, FL, featuring work by Richard Kostelanetz, John M. Bennett, K.S. Ernst, Bob Grumman, Scott Helmes, and Michael Peters.
76 pp., 5 x 8 inches, perfect binding, full color interior, Xexoxial Editions, 2008
Photos of three-dimensional artwork dealing with "frames" fill this delightful and quirky book. The first part contains an alphabetical re-take on the meaning of Drop Caps, and the rest frames everything from amulets to the sound of voice.
120 pp., 8.5 x 8.5 inches, perfect binding, full color interior, Luna Bisonte Prods, 2008
$27.50; Download $5
Color, vivid and subtle, is a major protagonist in this amazing dialogue of text, text fragments, line, and image; a dialogue not so much between the 2 collaborators (the work is strikingly unified) as between the several modes of expression these pieces exhibit. Truly a unique and wonderful creation! Excerpts from introduction: "This book represents the first consolidated depiction of the Ernst-Murphy collaborative in extended form. Compiling the volume has facilitated the elucidating and sharing what the artists have opted to consider part of an emerging oeuvre." "Visio-textual art draws life from letters, syllables, and words, from line, from curve, to shape, enacting a philosophical geometry in which concept and physical reality are conjoined." "Collaboration is about discovery and surprise. In the experience of working together, the process-based discoveries in visio-textual art are amplified by virtue of the added thought power..."
20 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, portfolio, full-color, Press Me Close, 2002
$15
A portfolio of 20 visual poems printed on acid-free paper. The series encompasses the many combinations of sometimes conflicting emotions associated with falling in love, being in love, and falling out of love. Printed and punched papers were scanned and combined with acrylic paintings via computer. Introduction by Karl Young.
32 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, comb binding, full color interior, Press Me Close, 2002
$15
In October, 2000, the three poets in this publication met for the first time in New York City. Through past correspondence, each was familiar with the work of the others. However, the visit enabled each poet to show a depth and range of work that had not been possible through the mail. What was particularly enlightening about the visit was the extensive use of color by each, something difficult to perceive without viewing the original work, since most publication of their work heretofore had been in black and white. Consequently, it become obvious that a publication in color would be of great interest and have a necessary cohesiveness. The poems bring together work in which color and form are central themes and fulfill an idea generated by the first meeting of these three visual poets. — Scott Helmes
by Jeb Aca (John M. Bennett, Josh Carr, K.S. (Kathy) Ernst, Pat Greene, Bob Grumman, Scott Helmes, Richard Kostelanetz, Hesse McGraw, Michael Peters, and Fred Young)
12 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, stapled, full color interior, Press Me Close, 2001
$10
These works were produced during an intense three-week session convened by Richard Kostelanetz at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida in June 2001. The collaborating between writers and artists was so quick and varied that we gave up trying to keep track of who had worked on many of the pieces, and so was born Jeb Aca, a new entity created by the interaction of many. A hive being, perhaps? But “hive” connotes mindless monotony (as in Star Trek’s Borg) and these pieces have a lively personality and a definite life of their own, very much indeed as if they were the product of an “individual” genius. — John M. Bennett
20 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, stapled, full color interior, Press Me Close, 2001
$5
John M. Bennett and K.S. Ernst created ‘Pon a Time Flame during a residency at The Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. Here computer art and quirky calligraphy combine to form a unique, full-color, 20 page work of visual poetry. The pages work equally well as individual poems, or as cantos in a single, sequential long poem.
17 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, comb binding, full color interior, Press Me Close, 2001
$10
The photos here were posed by Scott Helmes and shot by Kathy Ernst at Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, FL. Each of the other residents was given a bubble and asked to pick a letter that they felt was representative for them. Scott’s conception, inspired in part by a tube of plastic bubble-making material, this piece was derived from comic strips where thought, idea, and dialogue appear in balloons. The photos also an extend the theme of guerrilla lettering that appeared on the grounds of the art center during this residency.
Catalog for the "Writing to Be Seen" Show at the New York Center for Book Arts
88 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, comb binding, full color interior, Press Me Close, 2003
$12.50
Photographs of the artwork by artists represented in the book Writing to Be Seen (edited by Bob Grumman and Crag Hill) in the show curated by K.S. Ernst and Marilyn R. Rosenberg at New York Center for Book Arts. Artists represented include: Guy R. Beining, David Cole, K.S. Ernst, William L. Fox, Bob Grumman, Crag Hill, Bill Keith, Karl Kempton, Joel Lipman, Harry Polkinhorn, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Carol Stetser, and Karl Young.
My Kimono Book by C. Mehrl Bennett 68
pages, 7.44" x 9.68", perfect binding, full-color interior ink $18.48 The
kimono material in this book originates from other artists and writers (including
K.S. Ernst) - with their permission - with due credit made on each image. C.
Mehrl Bennett has given website links in her comments not only so that the
original image(s) contributed by the collaborator can be viewed, but also to
allow the reader to do research to learn more about these incredibly creative
people and to view their art, visual poetry, poetry, photography, etc. http://www.lulu.com/content/2794266
From Haiku to Lyriku Bob Grumman, ed., 255 pages; 5.5-inches by 8.5 inches; glossy cover, 2007. (Includes work by K.S. Ernst) $20 The tour begins with an effort
to define haiku. In the process, it gets into poems I used to term haiku
because they were small lyric poems whose aim, as I saw it, was the same as
that of traditional haiku. I now call such poems, “lyriku,” to avoid senseless
arguments with purists. After that, the tour meanders through poems just about
everyone (in North America) would agree are haiku, including some by Jack
Kerouac and Gary Snyder, then on to ones by poets few readers will be familiar
with (including me). These will include poems out of the language poetry
tradition, infraverbal poems, visual poems and even a few mathematical poems,
each aiming, in my view, for a haiku moment. So the book acts as a reasonably
wide-ranging anthology of what I call currently “kernular” poetry, but includes
a lot of discussion thereof that many, I hope, will find provocative and maybe
sometimes even illuminating. - Bob Grummanwww.bobgrumman.com/FromHaikuToLyriku/index.html
THE JUNE 30TH MANIFESTO Compiled by John M. Bennett & Scott Helmes, Columbus/St. Paul: Luna Bisonte Prods/StampPad Press, 2004. 26 pp. ISBN: 1892280337 $5.00 US
Includes
work byJim Leftwich, Musicmaster, Paul Lambert, Guy R. Beining, State of Being,
Reed Altemus, Marilynn Dammann, Thomas L. Taylor, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, John M.
Bennett, Bob BrueckL, Jim McCrary, K. S. Ernst, Sue Lense, Michael Basinski, C.
Mehrl Bennett, Scott Helmes, Jan Voss, David Baptiste Chirot, Geof Huth, Sheila
E. Murphy, Blaster Al Ackerman, Carlos M. Luis, Ivan Arguelles, Gianni Simone,
Jake Berry, Endwar, Joan Payne Kincaid, Anabasis, Edward Lense, William J.
Austin, Vincent Ferrini, Ric Royer, Lawrence Upton.
25.5 x 33 cm (10 x 13 inches) Very high quality letterpress color prints in a portfolio, limited ed - of 75, Minneapolis: A Stamp Pad Press/Hermetic Press Book, 2003.
Work by Bennett, Ernst, Gallo, Helmes, Kamin, Kostelanetz
Writing to Be Seen, An Anthology of Later 20th Century Visio-textual Art, Volume One
Edited by Bob Grumman and Crag Hill
340 pp., 8.5 x 11 inches, perfect binding, b/w interior, Light and Dust, 2001
$50 (Only a few copies left - out of print)
Visual poets represented include: Guy R. Beining, David Cole, K.S. Ernst, William L. Fox, Bill Keith, Karl Kempton, Joel Lipman, Harry Polkinhorn, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Carol Stetser, and Karl Young.
CD by The Be Blank Consort (John M. Bennett, Josh Carr, K.S. Ernst, Scott Helmes, Carlos M. Luis, and Michael Peters), 2003
$15
"This mess of poems was created for the most part collaboratively and scored for performance by THE BE BLANK CONSORT.The writers (and artists, as many of these works turn out to be visual poems as well) include Al Ackerman, C. Mehrl Bennett, John M. Bennett, Josh Carr, K. S. Ernst, Ficus strangulensis, Scott Helmes, Jim Leftwich, Carlos M. Luis, and Michael Peters.Exactly who wrote which parts of which poems has been lost to the depths of the archives…." — John M. Bennett
