THE TABLETS

paper 0-943373-56-5 The seriocomic masterwork of the late experimental poet and performer, now published here for the first time in complete form. Schwerner (1927—99) was one of those rampant literary madmen who are often described as “postmodern” simply because their verse bears no apparent similarity to anyone else’s: Although he’s been compared’somewhat disingenuously—to Ezra Pound, Schwerner’s work is sui generis in the extreme and bears few allusions to other authors or schools. This particular collection is a type of parody, putatively in the form of translations of (and commentaries on) 27 hieroglyphic tablets—complete with textual gaps, variants readings, and untranslatable passages. Much of the work was originally composed for performance rather than publication; and, while parts of it (—if you pick your nose on my grave / may you be fixed forever in a stupid / attitude, may the children use you / as a jungle gym and turn your muscles to piss—) would doubtless go over well in a room full of people with a few drinks under their belts, they may lose something when on the quiet page alone. The latter sections (—Divagations—) have even less appeal, being largely a compendium of random thoughts (—all concepts are misconceptions—) posing as footnotes. For an audience, by and large, that’s already predisposed.