John Fowler - DDT and the DreamWorld BBS

DDT and the DreamWorld BBS

fowler

Bill Paulauskas, incognito editor of Dada Tennis and
proprietor of the DreamWorld BBS, appears and disappears in
distorted re-incarnations and RL fluctuations; lurks in the
background. What of his cohorts? those whose works he has
chosen to publish; what are they doing? playing in the
sandbox of words? (as one of them said) DDT = DaDa Tennis;
DaDa Tennis, a net game played with words; return the serve
from the automatic server or serve yourself a salad of crisp
green vowels; never shirk a chance to verbalize a verb or
nounalize a noun and never stop to think. Boing, boing,
boing-boing, boing, they go--back and forth--the only sense
the sound, the only sound in the mouth, the only mouth in
the groin. Dada/surrealism, experimental work, language
poetry and collaboration taken from the DreamWorld. With
chilling graphics interspersed. Stretch from Jake Berry's
icons to word-mush of the master pulp. Jump in. Individual
pieces in the current issue seem to me to be overwhelmed by
the extensive selection of collaborat(ive)(ed)(ion) work.
To my mind, that is good. For it is the collaborative
pieces that seem most nearly about to take off. However, as
I read on through the sections, I feel slowly brought down;
the energy doesn't rise for me. And I have to admit, I
missed structure (blush, blush).

It's good to see this writing pulled out of the BBS setting
where getting a handle on what's going on requires a major
commitment. Seeing the results of "editing/splicing" is
worth the struggle of trying to be there. A situation worth
getting involved in.

The comparison between the activities of the *Nous Refuse*
group and their approach to interaction and the results at
DDT is--mmmmmmmmm--instructive.... The engagement in
intertexuality achieved by DDT/Dreamstate is perhaps the
goal of Nous Refuse? We would be interested in seeing their
reaction to one another if/after they take a look at each
other, if they haven't already.

DDT is available from Dreamstate Press, Box 10, Woodhaven,
NY 11421; DreamWorld BBS is at MODEM (718) 849-3232.

grist@phantom.com