The Wild Poetics of Questioning in Heller Levinson’s work

By Mohsen Elbelasy 

Since the dawn of human thought, philosophers and poets have grappled with the intricate dance between introspection—the inward gaze—and the very nature of the language we use to understand ourselves and the world around us. This questioning of both consciousness and expression represents a timeless philosophical thread, continually reimagined with each era’s unique challenges and insights.

Poets have always been at the forefront of this ongoing interrogation, their medium uniquely suited for expressing the inexpressible and pushing against the limits of language. From the fragmented imagery of the Modernists to the deconstructionist tendencies of postmodern writers, poetry has provided fertile ground for exploring the gaps between perception, feeling, and articulation.

Contemporary poets like Heller Levinson continue this tradition. His relentless questioning, fragmentation of syntax, and subversion of traditional meaning-making are attempts to reflect the fragmented, ever-shifting nature of both inner experience and the language that attempts to contain it.

Heller Levinson’s poetic artistry lies in his ability to harness the raw power of language in its most unpredictable forms. By shattering syntax, bending definitions, and championing the question, he creates a space of linguistic disorientation that invites introspection and a constant rethinking of the nature of language, meaning, and the world we inhabit. His poems are a thrilling and challenging reminder that language isn’t just a tool for communication, but an ever-evolving force with the potential to transform our entire understanding of expression. This fragmentation forces a radical re-reading. The reader must navigate these disjointed words, actively piecing together meaning as syntax melts away. 

The very act of reading becomes an exercise in deconstruction and finding new constellations of understanding. 

The boundaries of Contemporary poetry have always been fluid, subject to re-imagination and redefinition by each generation of writers.  As we stand in 2024, these forms of poetic expression are expanding with renewed urgency and audacity, propelled by a vibrant community of innovative artists. This expansion reconfigures our understanding of these genres, inviting us to reassess how we encounter and interact with language within the poetic space.

However, its contemporary embodiment extends far beyond dreamlike imagery or automatic writing techniques. Similarly, experimental poetry has moved past concerns of disrupting poetic conventions and delves into realms where the process of creation itself becomes an essential element of the work.

The work of American poet Heller Levinson exemplifies these broader trends in contemporary surrealist and experimental poetry. Levinson’s poetry is marked by a profound linguistic playfulness,  deconstructing, and reinventing language at a rapid pace. Words lose their conventional moorings, fragmenting and merging in new and startling ways (“lungchastity,” “bamboozle bluster”).  Levinson treats language as a malleable substance, inviting readers to experience words through their sound, shape, and associations rather than merely their lexical meanings.

Levinson’s experimentation extends beyond individual words into a disruption of syntax and overall form. Phrases crash into each other, rhythms stutter and accelerate, and conventional grammar bends under the pressure. This destabilization of language isn’t just a stylistic gimmick; it reflects a deeper investigation into the limits of linguistic representation. When familiar rules are discarded, a raw, unpredictable energy surges through the work, drawing the reader into a visceral engagement with the poem.

Heller Levinson’s poetry is an excavation into the unspoken, defiant celebration of the nebulous spaces between fixed meanings and forms. His work represents a significant contribution to the lineage of experimental poetry, challenging conventional notions of language, form, and the nature of poetic knowledge. 

Levinson draws our attention to the “pore,” a multifaceted symbol operating on a physical, metaphorical, and philosophical level. Physically, the pore represents those minute openings on surfaces or between particles. Metaphorically, it becomes the liminal space where the unformed precedes and influences formation – a potent zone of “possibility-packed” emptiness. Philosophically, the pore gestures towards a phenomenological exploration of intervals explored by Merleau Ponty, emphasizing the significance of that which resides between definable “things.”

This focus on the pore disrupts the primacy of solid objects and fixed definitions. Instead of focusing on stable meaning, Levinson’s poem is filled with words that suggest openings, passages, and fluidity: “orifice,” “debouche,” “coagulate,” and “invite.” These words defy a sense of settled structure, encouraging the reader to participate in the active process of meaning-making.

His poem wrestles with the question: “Where in the pore is the extractable?” It invites pondering whether that which resides within the space between things can be identified, grasped, and turned into something concrete. This question echoes throughout the poem, with Levinson exploring the tension between the desire to articulate and the inherent elusiveness at the heart of language.

The poet engages in wordplay that highlights both the constructive and destructive potential of language. Words like “rutting,” “torque,” “crank,” and “contort” suggest a violent twisting, an attempt to force something out of the pore. Yet, other words like “plait,” “twirl,” and “loom” hint at a more playful process of weaving and creation. This dynamic suggests that language can be used to unearth hidden meanings or to construct entirely new ones.

Levinson foregrounds the physical and embodied aspects of language. The poem pulsates with visceral imagery, from “lips” that “pulsate” to the “throttle-luxate-vein-crackle-roll” that emphasizes the corporeal origins of verbal production. This tactile quality disrupts the abstract notion of language as a pure idea, reminding us that words are generated by physical bodies.

The poem’s emphasis on onomatopoeia enhances this visceral experience. Words like “titillate,” “gristle,” and “flutter rudder butterfly” create sounds that mimic the physical actions and sensations they describe. This technique blurs the lines between sound and meaning, suggesting that language can evoke embodied experiences as well as intellectual concepts.

Heller Levinson’s poem is a provocative and complex poem that offers no easy answers. It invites readers to embrace the unstable, the undefined, and the in-between as spaces of infinite potential. With its focus on pores, its oscillation between extraction and exploration, and its emphasis on the physicality of language, the poem creates a uniquely immersive, intellectual, and visceral experience. Levinson’s “Hinge” poetry compels us to reconsider the fundamental nature of language and the infinite possibilities it holds for exploring the porous boundaries of our world and our existence.

“The Abyssal Recitations”

At the heart of creation through destruction lies a rejection of the traditional notion that artistic creation is solely an act of building or adding.

Contemporary experimental poetry pushes this process of deconstruction and subsequent reassembly even further. It embraces sound as a raw material, often severed from its traditional semantic ties. Poets play with the texture of syllables, the rhythm of phonemes, and the dissonance of unexpected word collisions. The resulting work is a form of aural sculpture, where the evocative power of sound transcends the limits of literal meaning.

Modern and contemporary poetry demonstrates that destruction is not a force antithetical to creation; it can be a necessary catalyst. By disrupting the comfort of the familiar, poets open up avenues for new meanings and sensory experiences. Through the experimental manipulation of sound and image, they deconstruct conventional understandings of the poetic form and invite us into a thrilling realm of linguistic and perceptual play. The resulting work is an ongoing exploration of the potential for rebirth from the ruins of the known.

Heller Levinson’s “The Abyssal Recitations” is not a poetry book; it’s a detonation. The poems are sonic hand grenades, an orchestrated cacophony of dismembered language. Levinson isn’t building neat little houses of verse; they’re dynamiting the structures of traditional poetry and reveling in the glorious chaos of what remains.

This is poetry as a primal outburst. In poems like “Abyssal Cavort” and “Abyssal Rumpus,” meaning is shattered, reformed, and shattered again. Words collide like bumper cars – “xylophones”, “rhubarb”, “saxophone”. There’s an incantatory quality, a feverish repetition that suggests a descent into ritualistic madness, a celebration of the absurd.

Notice how Levinson toys with expectation. In “Abyssal Flare,” you have fragments of familiar phrases (“fiery flint”, “fleck frolic”) wrenched and reshaped into cryptic, almost sinister pronouncements. The effect is jarring, forcing us to confront language not as a vessel for clear meaning, but as a shapeshifting, volatile entity. 

Levinson’s relationship with the abyss isn’t one of fear but of a strange exhilaration. Consider the repeated refrain of “jump daily/ madly” – the void isn’t a terrifying chasm, it’s a playground for defying the laws of verse.  The direct address of “Abyss: / the annulment that instigates; / the absence that fulfills” reveals a fascination with the paradox of creation through destruction.

Some might see these works as impenetrable linguistic puzzles, but that misses the point. This isn’t about intellectual decoding. Consider the raw, visceral punch of “Abyssal Leak:  / lesion / lambent ebb”.  Levinson’s playing with the sonic and visual qualities of language hits us on a level deeper than narrative or metaphor. 

“The Abyssal Recitations” is poetry of rupture and revolt. It’s a middle finger to traditional notions of sense and sensibility. Instead, Levinson invites us on a descent into a maelstrom of sound and image, embracing the thrill of losing control, of encountering the raw essence of language stripped bare. In the end, it asks us not to understand, but to experience the poetry as pure sensation, as a kind of ecstatic plunge into the unknown. 

Shift Gristle

In his book “Shift Gristle,” Hiller Levinson navigates a forest of poetic sensory tensions, where he establishes a new poetic concept for word collage with unconventional semiotic laws.

Under his touch, words transform into musical notes, as if you’re reading a jazz melody that melts your emotions or a raucous rock concert that frees your imagination from all constraints.

Levinson constructs a poetic visual mosaic, exploring complex ideas and emotions that traditional poems don’t reveal.

He merges the sensual impact and visual arrangement of words to sculpt new meanings for them. Each line has an inner power, and each word evokes its own emotions, regardless of its context.

Levinson’s brilliance shines through in his ability to blend the sound, meaning, and formal arrangement of words in the poetic text, resulting in a masterful poetic thesis that redefines modern poetic linguistics.

Associations flow spontaneously, and sonic significances overflow, carrying an aura of non-poetic.

The harmony between the sound of a word and its meaning becomes a guiding principle for Levinson’s poetic intuition.

Levinson reweaves a unique constructive language logic, transcending the boundaries of traditional linguistics.

He expands his texts with new semantic horizons, using sound and sight to create novel and intersecting semiotic connections between sound, the world of emotions, and complex impressions.

Levinson brings new possibilities to poetic imagery, astonishing us with his ability to transition from one image to another through startlingly diverse paradoxes.

He transforms everyday tools and objects into elements with profound semiotic meanings.

The intensity of emotions occasionally reaches a point of ecstasy or despair for all the inanimate objects that surround the poet.

Levinson invents a unique construction technique that allows him to reveal his tools to the reader, making even absolute absurdity acceptable.

The text becomes a series of flashes that reveal a truth that can be accepted for one simple reason: it is pure poetry, through which Levinson never seeks to safely separate the self from the object, but rather to merge the two.

Levinson possesses a desire that fuels the architecture of his imagination and the limitless physics of his poetry.

The physical world becomes a reflection of the inner psyche, with no distinction between the world’s and the self’s inner workings.

The dream dialectic intertwines with text mechanics, infused with the absolute connection between the symbol and poetic object and the transparency of relationships between the freedom of imagination and the agony of wandering in the mysteries of lived wakefulness.

I invite you to embark on a journey through Hiller Levinson’s poetic world, where you will discover a forest of sensory tensions, a mosaic of words and images, and musical notes that liberate your imagination.

The Poetics of Questioning in Heller Levinson’s

 “Query Caboodle”

Heller Levinson’s “Query Caboodle” reimagines the very act of poetic creation. He transforms language into a constant state of flux, challenging the reader to find meaning not in declarations but in the boundless potential of the interrogative. His relentless questioning becomes a philosophical tool, probing the limits of linguistic certainty and urging us to re-evaluate our systems of knowing.

Beyond simply asking questions, Levinson actively fragments and subverts traditional poetic expectations. Words are often stripped down to bare syllables and disconnected from their usual contexts:

This technique disassembles the very building blocks of language, forcing a confrontation with meaning at its most fundamental level. We are left to consider the essence of concepts like “place” or “community,” their boundaries blurring and expanding to encompass multiple interpretations.

Levinson’s work thrives on paradox. The seemingly straightforward can become remarkably complex, turning logic on its head. Take his exploration of “appetite,” questioning its traditional relation to desire and color. He asks, “How much of / appetite / is / colorless”.  This destabilizes the very notion of “appetite”—often associated with craving and vibrant imagery. His questions force us to confront the limits of expected associations and search for new interpretations.

Levinson’s engagement with Clayton Eshleman’s concept of “primary incidents” underscores his fascination with the construction of individual meaning systems. This fascination leads him to reject rigid structures of defining moments. Instead, he proposes a model of continual evolution, suggesting “there might be continuous daily adjustments. A profusion of such profound ‘orientating’ “. This embrace of fluidity and subjectivity situates Levinson’s work within a larger conversation about knowledge and perception.

Elemental forces, specifically the wind, serve as rich metaphors throughout “Query Caboodle.” Levinson personifies wind, imbuing it with psychological tension: “Does wind wind-up? / amass its forces before the unleash?” This transformation of a natural force into a reflective entity compels introspection, urging us to examine our internal landscapes marked by moments of stillness and the sudden surge of strong emotions.  

Reading “Query Caboodle” is a performative act. Levinson places the responsibility of meaning-making squarely within the reader’s domain. The relentless questioning isn’t meant to provide clear-cut answers; instead, it’s a catalyst for personal exploration.  Levinson breaks away from poetic convention, making us not passive recipients of his words but active participants in an ongoing interrogation of the world around us.

Questions as Portals in Contemporary Poetry

Poetry has long embraced the question as a fundamental mode of expression. However, in contemporary experimental and surrealist literary movements, the question itself transcends mere inquiry. It becomes a tool of disruption, subversion, and a gateway to re-imagining the boundaries of the known.

Within the realm of contemporary experimental poetry, the question is both form and content. Poets dismantle traditional sentence structures, syntax, and even the very building blocks of words. They push against the presumed declarative nature of poetry, favoring the interrogative’s open-ended possibilities. The question becomes a catalyst for:

Questions like “Where in the / margin / is / fibrillation?” (from Heller Levinson’s “Query Caboodle”) deconstruct and undermine our confidence in language’s ability to define reality. Linear logic gives way to an expansive, multi-faceted conceptual landscape.

Open-ended questions actively engage the reader as a co-creator of meaning. The poet no longer offers answers but instead invites a collaborative dialogue where interpretation becomes fluid and personal. 

Poets like Levinson often turn the question inward, interrogating the very act of poetic creation. The question  “How much of painting  / depends upon a wall?”  challenges our understanding of boundaries that shape artistic expression and perception.

Contemporary experimental poetry’s embrace of the question finds a strong parallel in the Surrealist movement. Surrealists championed the power of the unconscious, the illogical, and the dreamlike to reveal hidden truths that traditional language obscured. 

Surrealists also used questions to disrupt rational thought patterns. “What is knowing? /Is it a move toward discipline?” Levinson’s work deconstructs the link between knowledge and order, hinting at alternative, more intuitive forms of understanding.

Through unexpected juxtapositions fueled by questions, Surrealists aimed to generate a sense of the marvelous, to reveal the extraordinary within the seemingly mundane.  

He leer Levinson’s techniques emphasized spontaneity and often took the form of questions posed to the unconscious mind, seeking unfiltered and irrational answers.

The question transcends purely written poetry, manifesting powerfully in the realm of contemporary visual poetry. Here, the interrogative can become integrated into:

The way questions are visually arranged disrupts linear reading patterns. Spatial relationships between words, the use of negative space, and even the form of the question mark itself become compositional elements, creating layers of meaning.

Visual poetry often juxtaposes questions with images, creating deliberate dissonance or unexpected resonances. This interrogative dialogue between word and image forces the reader to reconsider the interplay between the seen and the articulated.

Visual poetry may incorporate the act of questioning into performances, installations, and digital media, further dissolving boundaries between the reader, writer, and the physical embodiment of the poem.

I hope to see Heller do this soon, or a visual artist does this mission for him, to embody his written poetic beings within the veins of a visual medium.

In Conclusion, Heller Levinson’s unique voice offers a deeply introspective experience. “Query Caboodle” challenges our most basic assumptions about language, meaning, and the nature of knowledge itself. His poetry is a testament to the boundless power of inquiry, inviting us on a journey of constant discovery and a re-evaluation of the world we think we know.

Mohsen Elbelasy 

Mohsen Elbelasy Egyptian surrealist artist and poet and researcher and editor-in-chief of the Room Surrealist Magazine and sulfur-surrealist-jungle.com and the co-director of the International exhibition of surrealism Cairo Saint-Cirq-Lapopie 202 and Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism /Alexandria /Budapest and ECHOS SURRÉALISTES CONTEMPORAINS 2024 

LUXOR /SAINT-CIRQ-LAPOPIE /BUDAPEST /ALABAMA /TOULOUSE /PARIS.