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with a third Chinese ideogram, representing “be ginning”, conveys the concept of the autumn equinox. Pictorial images of the sun and moon are then used as supportive visual symbols for the poet’s complex description of the natural pheno menon which occurs on the 22nd and 23rd of Sep tember, when day and night are of equal length. Below the pictorial images are four lines. The first is ”ax там”, an expressive statement in Ukrainian meaning “ah, there”. The second line is an English homophone of ”ax там”. It does not bear any meaning in English and requires further transforma tion, finally resulting in the English noun “autumn”. Together, all of these elements produce the com plex vision of the autumn equinox which interests the poet both as a natural phenomenon and an important moment in the human life cycle. The poet’s use of different cultural systems suggests the possibility of multiple interpretations, each time depending on the cultural and ethnic background of the interpreter. In Western tradition, the “be ginning” represented in the Chinese ideogram actually acquires an opposite meaning. When the autumnal motif is applied as a metaphor to a cer tain stage of human life, it is usually associated with sadness or nostalgia — autumn is the season of incipient decay and the beginning of autumn implies the relentless approach of death. Suknaski’s more conventional poems also engage in experimentation with layout. In “Hura- kan” (Figure 10), the poet employs several devices for emphasis. The reader can imagine the power of the HURAKAN by use of capital letters, and by the way the lines of the poem are distributed on the page, isolating separate words. The work is identified as a “Ukrainian sound poem in spring” — the Ukrainian text in transliteration is separated from the English text by the poet’s use of italics and capitals. Recognition of visual poetry as an interesting literary genre is conditioned by various factors. The most important is the fact that visual poetry is largely based on conceptualization and is not intended for passive consumption. Visual poetry cannot just be read, it is to be reconstructed, decoded and reinvented by the reader. Most of the images are to be formed in the mind’s eye rather than on the page. The reader, due to the absence of complicated text, is freed from the constraints of semantic logic and becomes an active partici pant. According to poet Eugen Gomringer, “words are games, games become words”. There is no doubt that these games are worthy of attention. It is particularly gratifying that the works of Jars Balan, Andrew Suknaski and other visual poets of Ukrainian descent have been found accessible and entertaining by those who choose to play. Fig. 10. Andrew Suknaski. “Hurakan 20 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 1997 Fig. 9. Andrew Suknaski. ‘‘Autumn equinox”. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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