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Political poetry

 Subject

Subject Source: Sackner Database

Found in 117 Collections and/or Records:

SurVeils, 1996

 Item — Box 613: [Barcode: 31858072460995]
Identifier: CC-34670-36371
Scope and Contents

The author indicated that the "book" is a translucent envelope containing six "certificates" with texts addressing: Surveillance & Knowledge, Surveillance & Purity, Surveillance & Reciprocity, Surveillance & Glamour, and Surveillance & Absurdity. In between the certificates are the SurVeils - masks of onionskin paper with different life-sized images of closed eyes with little eye-holes: To hide your open eyes and aid in "surveilling your surveillors." To reinforce the deception, at the bottom of each veil is rubberstamped "my eyes are closed." Adhesive dots can be attached to the eyes. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1996

Survival Device 56: God Saves, 1995

 Item — Box 270: [Barcode: 31858072460573]
Identifier: CC-28898-30224
Scope and Contents

The recto of this painted book object has the aphorism "God Saves" whereas the verso has the printed admonishment, "Wear Under Jacket, Left Pocket." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1995

Survival Series, 1985

 Item — Box 301: [Barcode: 31858072460912]
Identifier: CC-50907-71985
Scope and Contents

Two of each of the pencils are stamped on the side panels with the following: YOU ARE TRAPPED ON THE EARTH SO YOU WILL EXPLODE; WHAT URGE WILL SAVE US NOW THAT SEX WON'T?; PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT; MEN DON'T PROTECT YOU ANYMORE; THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR WILL BE SECRET; THE FUTURE IS STUPID. This series predates the edition published by the Albright-Knox Gallery Buffalo in 1991 in which the stampings were done in black ink. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1985

Taschenbuch der Panzer, 1981

 Item — Box Artist Boxed Materials/Oversized: Finlay, Ian Hamilton: [Barcode: 31858072491461]
Identifier: CC-11758-11976
Scope and Contents

The eight colored prints play off the image of the Pansey, the flower as a camouflaged image of Panzer, the German armored tank. A section of this book is entitled, "Detached Sentances on Camouflage: In the Manner of Shenstone. William Snenstone (1714-1763) was a poet and gardner. This list aphorisms about floral and military tank camouflage. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1981

Teach Yourself Fucking, 2000

 Item
Identifier: CC-41328-43311

Temple, n, 1984

 Item — Box Artist Boxed Materials/Oversized: Finlay, Ian Hamilton: [Barcode: 31858072491461]
Identifier: CC-12088-12312
Scope and Contents

Temple denotes the exhibition space at Finlay's residence. The caption under an image of a Greek temple includes a definition, a quote from The Metamorphosis of Ovid, and the storming of Finlay's Temple by the Strathclyde region tax collectors who launched a surprise attack on Budget day, March 15, and successfully looted the garden TEMPLE. The definition is "a marbled edifice, a veined edifice; the seat or summit of reason." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1984

Terror/Virtue, 1983

 Item — Box 184: [Barcode: 31858072459542]
Identifier: CC-12419-12646
Scope and Contents

The leaflet provides an explanation for the image on the medal. Virtue is signified by two classical columns and terror by the two posts of the Guillotine. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1983

The Bill of Rights: The Fifth Amendment, 2000

 Item — Box 165: [Barcode: 31858072458197]
Identifier: CC-34474-36171
Scope and Contents Richard Minsky created the bookbinding and box for the poetic text written by Mitch Cullin entitled "Branches." The book was published by The Permanent Press. The illustrations were done by Ryuzo Kikushima. The front cover is punctured with five bullet holes. The cover consists of a sheriff's badge pinned to a shirt pocket and a name badge with the word "Branches." The box is affixed with a black gun leather holster on which the fifth amendment of the constitution is printed in gold, lowercase, italic text. The title of the book refers to the protagonist in the autobiographical poem, I.A.C. Branches, a bigoted Texas Sheriff, who uses his authority and gun without remorse to rape, torture gays, and shoot Mexican border intruders. The fifth amendment states that no person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual...
Dates: 2000

The Cement Fuck, 1966

 Item — Box 543: [Barcode: 31858072461068]
Identifier: CC-07335-7479
Scope and Contents

The abstract expressionist cover was painted by maRa. A handwritten poem by levy appears on the back cover. This book contains all the stanzas of Chalchihuitlicue; the booklet of the same title (held by the Sackner Archive) only contains the first stanza. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1966

The First Battle of Little Sparta, February 4, 1983 (Flute, Begin with Me), 1984

 Item — Box 147: [Barcode: 31858072458007]
Identifier: CC-12418-12645
Scope and Contents

The medal depicts an automatic machine gun as a metaphor for a flute; commemorates first episode of an assult by the Strathclyde Region tax collectors on Finlay's home. The leaflet accompanyimg this medal commemorating the incident is a visual pun on Virgil's flute, with the vents in the barrel-sleeve as the finger-stops. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1984

The JAMES R LOWELL DEFENSE FUND (1), 1967

 Item — Box 618: [Barcode: 31858072461035]
Identifier: CC-60433-10003365
Scope and Contents

This work lists books seized by Cleveland police from Asphodel Book shop. almost all the books and several of the magazines are held by the Sackner Archive. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.


The James R. Lowell Defense Fund would include levy as well, which some refer to as the Lowell-levy (or levy-Lowell) Defense Fund. These funds aided Lowell and levy in their respective court battles.

Dates: 1967

The JAMES R LOWELL DEFENSE FUND (2), 1967

 Item — Box 618: [Barcode: 31858072461035]
Identifier: CC-60434-10003366
Scope and Contents

The recto of this work sets forth the context of the trial and the verso reproduces a poem by Joe Brainard relating to peace and tranquility. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1967

The Marble Arrow, 1984

 Item — Box Artist Boxed Materials/Oversized: Finlay, Ian Hamilton: [Barcode: 31858072491461]
Identifier: CC-12567-12799
Scope and Contents

The card is shaped like an arrow and has been made from marbled paper, a pun on the poem printed along an inside fold, "The Marble Arrow Always Hits Its Mark!" -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1984

The Moralist, 2002

 Item — Box 84: [Barcode: 31858072538238]
Identifier: CC-39074-41012
Scope and Contents

This work features ambiguities related to censorship. The label of two cigarette packs, "Lucky Strike" is cancelled to leave only "Lust." The cancelling device is a large block of wood with black paint at its tip that serves as phallic symbol. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 2002

The Nuclear Fan, 1984

 Item — Box 610: [Barcode: 31858072460862]
Identifier: CC-44062-46178
Scope and Contents

Each leaf of the fan depicts the same atomic explosion and a single word caption. The words form the following sentence, "This is only a test." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1984

Thermidor, 1994

 Item — Box 147: [Barcode: 31858072458007]
Identifier: CC-12767-13032
Scope and Contents

Stephan Bann provides an explanation of the poem in the accompanying leaflet as follows. Thermidor was the month in the French Revolutionary calendar when the summer heat was its most intense, and the grain at its ripest. It was also the month, in 1794, when Robespierre and his followers met their deaths at the guillotine. In the image of this poem, the abrupt cleavage of the word, THER MIDOR, and of the figured sheaf of flowers, suggest the termination of the revolution in its Jacobian sense. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Dates: 1994