When I first moved to Glasgow I put together a series of poems under the following constraint: walk up and down each side of a street and note down the phrases that catch your eye, no matter where they’re from, be it graffiti, adverts, posters, or whatever words that appear in the area. Once the data has been collected, rearrange the order of the phrases without rearranging their content.
This is not writing, it’s constructing. An exercise in psychogeography, situating yourself by detaching the words around you. A means of representing the schizophrenic barrage of language we are faced with on any given street. Trying to find a cohesive order in the chaos.
The poems, in the language of The Situationists, are détournements. In terms of translating the word into English, you could go with reinterpretations, but it’s hard to condense a concept into a word. Another means of using détournement in French is for hijacking (planes); but since works of art, in Situationism, that are classified as détournements are literally hijacking the language of capitalism and diverting it from consumption to creation, the translation is viable. Reappropriation would also work, given that the phrases used to construct the poems are not entirely taken from advertisements, and it would be unfair/wrong to lump graffiti and civic posters in with them.
Built in 1862, during Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, Avenue Daumesnil took its name in 1864 in honour of Pierre Daumesnil, a Napoleonic General; and is today one of the longest roads in the city, with its 6270m spanning the entirety of the 12th Arrondissement, from Place de la Bastille to Château de Vincennes. From its three Metro stations (Daumesnil, Michel Bizot and Porte Dorée), it’s served by Metro lines 6 and 8; and is intersected by the T3a tramline. It is also the street I live on.
Start at the Bastille monument, to your right the Seine, to your left the opera house; then, as you make your way down the road, you have the iconic architecture of Haussmann, modernism, and everything in between; the town hall, hanging from it a message from the city demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages taken by Hamas, posters echoing the same sentiment plastered elsewhere in the neighbourhood, and not one mention anywhere of the IDF’s war crimes; you walk on, past the cafés, bistrots, tabacs, bakeries, butcher’s, boutiques, buildings you could not tell were bombed some hundred years ago; churches, a museum, a monument dedicated to the men involved in the colonial expedition in Congo; a walking tour; joggers and cyclists and families; the zoo, the park, the flower gardens; and in the woods that this road cuts through, if you turn your head to the right, you can see families of refugees and homeless people living in tents; look straight ahead and you’re finally at the road’s end: the Château de Vincennes, former home to kings, whose dungeon once held the Marquis de Sade, Mirabeau and Voltaire; now, other than fulfilling a few governmental duties, it’s a tourist destination and very easy on the eyes.
To construct the Avenue Daumesnil poem I collected 62 phrases or individual words and used 50 of them, translating them first and ordering them second. It’s divided into 12 stanzas, 12 because it covers the entirety of the 12th, 12 because walking it end to end, which I did while collecting the words, is 12km.
Avenue Daumesnil (08/03/24)
Restoration Conservation Renewal of graves expiring this year I ask my questions Public survey: Do you have memories, objects To rent Is a woman today equal to a man? A question of power? Day and night The abolition of privileges Bodily expression Forbidden The viaduct of arts Forbidden Future solution Too expensive We can help you For any occasion Digital wellbeing A nuclear war Reminder Every stage is a great stage Abysses with Electricity My version of the story Without surgery or anaesthesia I can’t The price of ascension In case of loss I say to you It’s not easy to be happy Meet hope There is no age Too late Turn your back on pain Survive the crisis Give meaning to your life Discover Submit Follow the Burnt road The cascades The ecstasy The tears in your eyes and the smile on your lips Reminder Tragedy is always The Plague The Tempest Evidence Yes, angels and demons exist