Poor. Old. Tired. Horse. (1962-68) Now Online at UbuWeb

UbuWeb continues its ascent to the most thorough of resources. Recently created for their Summer 2011 update is a new section of visual poetry, curated by derek beaulieu, who writes:

UBUWEB: VISUAL POETRY exposes little-seen exemplars of historical praxis and models of contemporary insight to a wider audience. This section includes anthologies, ephemeral publications, criticism and sporadic journals dedicated to visual poetry. Due to the elusive and ephemeral nature of concrete and visual poetry publications, there is a perceived lack of innovation in the genre. Without exposure to radical practice, artistic precedent and innovative models, concrete poets too often fall back upon familiar tropes and unchallenging forms.

UBUWEB: VISUAL POETRY is not presented under the rubric of historical coverage or indexical completeness, but rather as a document of isolate moments of what Haroldo de Campos argued was a "notion of literature not as craftsmanship but [...] as an industrial process" where the poem is a "prototype" rather than the "typical handiwork of artistic artistry."

Most exciting might be the uploads of Ian Hamilton Finlay's Poor.Old.Tired.Horse., "[O]ne of the most important visual poetry magazines internationally. The magazine began to publish an increasing amount of visual poetry starting with issue 5. Finlay (1925-2006) would eventually distance himself from visual poetry in favour of his Wild Hawthorne Press, poetic objects and his monumental Little Sparta." But the section runs over a half-century, collecting work from hundreds of artists--the most current work is Anatol Knotek's 2010 "Rotated Alphabet".

The contents of P.O.T.H. are enough for drooling purposes. All available to download as PDFs.