Reading Visual Poetry

Some poets push further, beyond visual placement of words, to visual disruption of language itself. For example non-semantic or asemic visual poetry plays with letters in a variety of ways without forming words.

Here we offer a close reading of the non-semantic visual poem, “this half is for the ceremony” by derek beaulieu. This is followed by several other poems, previously published in Canadian Literature, that illustrate other visual poetic strategies for a disruptive material engagement with visible, written language.

this half is for the ceremony by derek beaulieu