GAZA, Is er een leven vóór de dood?

This collection of the correspondence between artist Rosemary Mayer (1943-2014) and poet Bernadette Mayer (born 1945) occurs between the years of 1976 and 1980, a period of rich creativity in New York's artistic avant-garde, and one which includes the development of major bodies of work by the two women.

Rosemary Mayer was creating sculptures, watercolors, books and temporary monuments from weather balloons and snow, while Bernadette Mayer was working on some of her best-known publications, including the book-length poem Midwinter Day and the poetry collection The Golden Book of Words.

Spanning the worlds of Conceptual art, Postminimalism, feminism, the New York School, Language poetry and more, these letters elucidate the bonds of sisterhood through intimate exchanges about art, relationships and everyday life.

David J. Melnick published the first book of Men in Aida, a homophonic, but also homoeroticized translation of Homer's epic Iliad, in December 1983 in an edition of 450 at Tuumba Press. After appearing in many guises and fragments, Book Two was published online in 2002 as part of the Eclipse Archive. Book Three appears for the first time in the present publication, which brings together all three books of one of the most important American avant-garde poems. 

According to Sean Gurd, who wrote the introduction to this unified edition: "The labor of more than 20 years, Men in Aïda filters the sound of Homer's Iliad through the words and phraseology of English. Far more than an exercise in homophonic translation, David J. Melnick's epoch-marking poem packs thousands of years of linguistic history into three riotous books."

In the powerful follow up to her critically acclaimed debut collection, poet and activist Fariha Róisín is writing, praying, clawing, and scratching her way out of the grips of generational trauma on the search for the freedom her mother never received and the kindness she couldn’t give.

This collection of poetry asks a kaleidoscope of Who is my family? My father? How do I love a mother no longer here? Can I see myself? What does it mean to be Bangladeshi? What is a border? Innately hopeful and resolutely strong, Fariha's voice turns to the optimism and beauty inherent in rebuilding the self, and in turn, the world that the self moves through. Ubiquitous to the human experience, Survival Takes a Wild Imagination is an illuminating breath of fresh air from a powerful poetic voice.

OEI #80-81 is not an anthological publication, and has no representative ambition. It is a montage-based publication trying, in as material a way as possible, to register, prolong, transform and reflect upon energies from the work of Portuguese artist Ernesto de Sousa and his fellows (Alberto Carneiro, Túlia Saldanha, Álvaro Lapa, Fernando Calhau, Lourdes Castro, Ana Vieira, Ana Hatherly, E.M. de Melo e Castro, António Barros...).

Ernesto de Sousa and his fellows defined themselves as aesthetic operators and worked as filmmakers, photographers, curators, critics, writers, folk art researchers, multimedia artists... OEI #80-81 also gathers texts on magazines such as Poesia Experimental, Operação, Nova, A Urtiga, and Alternativa; and works by artists from younger generations such as Isabel Carvalho, Paulo Mendes and Mariana Silva, in dialogue with that of de Sousa.

«Avec Firestar, AD Rose tire une balle dans les jambes de celleux qui regardent leurs pieds» *

Une écriture dont le style évoque le rap, avec ses rimes, sa part de violence, de néologismes et d’égotrip, outil de lutte contre les injustices et l’ordre établi, celui de la langue comme celui de l’inceste. AD a 22 ans lorsqu’il quitte sa famille, écrit Firestar et nous accorde sa confiance pour le publier. Un travail testimonial rare sur les violences intra-familiales à la racine des systèmes de domination, un attentat poétique pour ne pas oublier.Lorsqu’en 2021 sa mémoire traumatique se réveille, AD Rose tente d'obtenir réparation auprès de ses parents, coupables de l'avoir incestué. Face au mur d’omerta auquel il se heurte, il trouve pouvoir dans l’écriture. Comme un réflexe de survie pour crier, sans demander la permission, libéré de la honte et des secrets. Un mouvement sans concession pour reprendre sa vie.

* Le texte est accompagné d’une préface de Victoria Xardel.

AD Rose est un poète français né en 1999. Il grandit dans le Tarn et le Tarn-et-Garonne, entre Vénès et Loze.

Victoria Xardel est une poète française née en 1987. Elle grandit en Alsace-Lorraine, entre Metz et Strasbourg.