Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Olson’s "Peograms" is a biting, satirical meditation on emptiness, both personal and creative, wrapped in a quirky and intentionally absurd style. The poem’s playful language, with its repeated suffixes of "less" and exaggerated irony, critiques a lack of depth, substance, and meaningful connection in individuals and, by extension, in artistic or intellectual endeavors.

The poem opens with a pithy declaration: "life is funny," which immediately sets a tone of detachment and bemusement. This phrase suggests a recognition of life’s unpredictability and absurdity, as illustrated by the image of life "shooting around like a crazy bullet." The comparison implies a chaotic and uncontrollable force, capturing both the energy and the randomness of existence. However, this energy quickly turns destructive, as symbolized by "a young man hit[ting] her" and the violent image of "an orange crate hit by an axe." This abrupt transition to violence underscores the poem?s darker undercurrents, hinting at how human interactions or creative impulses can lead to disarray or fragmentation.

The introduction of "Lessless Headless" as a central figure in the poem deepens the satirical critique. The character’s name, composed of negative prefixes and a lack of defining qualities, encapsulates the very absence Olson is mocking. By stripping "Lessless Headless" of substance—no head, no poetic essence, no subjectivity—Olson highlights a figure who exists in a void of meaning or identity. The repetitive use of "less" throughout the poem reinforces this absence, creating a sense of emptiness that mirrors the character?s lack of creative or personal vitality.

Olson’s assertion that "Lessless Headless made poetness his subjectless" is a sharp commentary on a kind of hollow artistry. Here, the idea of "poetness" becomes ironic, as the character embodies a writer or thinker devoid of inspiration or authenticity. By choosing "subjectless" as the framework for his work, Lessless Headless creates art that is detached from any tangible or meaningful connection to life. This critique could be seen as Olson’s broader commentary on the dangers of abstraction or intellectualism that becomes disconnected from reality, a theme that aligns with his larger body of work emphasizing concrete experience and the physical world.

The poem’s absurdist humor is heightened in the lines "Lessless Headless wrote essays in every magazineless / And said less than any livingless." These phrases ridicule the proliferation of empty intellectualism or the performative nature of writing without purpose. The image of publishing essays in a "magazineless" medium is especially poignant, as it points to the futility of creating for an audience that does not exist or for publications that lack substance themselves. The suggestion that Lessless Headless "said less than any livingless" underscores his failure not just as a creator but as a person—he contributes nothing meaningful to the world, his output as vacuous as his identity.

At its core, "Peograms" critiques not only individual emptiness but also systemic issues within creative and intellectual culture. The poem reflects Olson’s dissatisfaction with art or thought that lacks grounding, substance, or engagement with the tangible world. In a sense, the figure of Lessless Headless represents the antithesis of Olson’s own poetics, which emphasize attention to place, the body, and the immediacy of experience. Olson’s Projective Verse manifesto advocated for poetry that is dynamic, organic, and rooted in the physicality of breath and perception. In contrast, Lessless Headless’s "subjectless" poetry is sterile, lifeless, and disconnected.

The poem’s structure and playful language contribute to its critique. The use of absurd repetition and compound words emphasizes the artificiality and hollowness of its subject. By creating a character defined entirely by negation and lack, Olson exposes the futility of art or life that fails to engage with reality. The humor and absurdity of the poem make its critique all the more biting, as Olson uses satire to dismantle pretensions of meaninglessness.

"Peograms" ultimately serves as both a warning and a call to action. Through the figure of Lessless Headless, Olson critiques the dangers of detachment and the emptiness of art or life that avoids meaningful engagement. At the same time, the poem implicitly urges readers and creators to embrace depth, substance, and connection, rejecting the easy path of abstraction or disconnection. In its humor and irony, the poem offers a sharp, memorable reminder of the stakes of creative and personal authenticity.

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