Alcoholism in n-Dimensions

[from the award-winning video, The Creative Adventure]

Although typographically you might think I was drunk when I wrote this poem, I was quite sober. I had been reading the poems of e. e. cummings and was paying attention to his use of punctuation. I saw that, by using punctuation in a creative way, there might be more that could be said in a poem. Unlike cummings, however, I did not use the punctuation randomly, but indicated my discoveries taking the punctuation a step further. In contrast to multiple meanings coming from the suggestiveness of metaphor in ordinary poetry, this concrete poem takes the issues of alcoholism concretely and multiple meanings in a concrete way. When drunk the alcoholic is a very concrete thinker.

But there is more than just the typographical dimension of drunkenness. When I looked deeper into the problems of a person addicted to alcohol and into this poem, I begin to see much between the rhyme/lines. For example, by looking within single words I found the letters of other words or by making simple changes of a letter or two, I discovered in new words that also were references to the alcoholic experience, thus “Alcoholism in n-Dimensions.”

He drank his breakfast, lunch and supper,

And in between times as a pick-me-upper.

He told her often he was gonna stop,

But between thee and me he lied a lot.

{You could easily tell, sometimes

By reading in-between the lines.}

There is more implied from this simple poem than the [hic(cuping)], the typographic drunkedness. Look at the italics and between the brackets and the parentheses and follow the under-linings. You will find other behavior that is often hidden from view. Thus you may see the self-disgust [I reek (vomiting??) as I ween, I’m a sap, ick = me], orality [cf. wean from the bottle vs. ween or imagine], narcissism [I, I, I, he ied a lot.], the hostile dependency [he told her off], the self-deception [I tell o’ me], and the duplicity [he lied a lot]. Following the underlinings there are other suggested words you can find [I ween (I imagine) the ire, the urn, the ark, the art, the orb.] You might think of other three letter words with “r” in the middle that refer to the alcoholic experience, thus n-Dimensions.

“Ankh” is the Egyptian symbol of life; so the hidden poem, following the under-linings, what is underneath, the ultimate tragedy of the alcoholic, is

oems:

Ankh Is As Unchained,

As He In Gin,

Ween(s)[archaic: conceives, imagines] the error [err]

Before [ere]

This discovered poem underlines the tragedy of the alcoholic who is aware of his self-imprisonment, and wants to wean from the bottle, and realizes that life is freedom from addiction.

By going deeper we can discover and create a better life.