The quantum fields

In 1920, André Breton and Philippe Soupault published Les champs magnétiques ("The magnetic fields"), a book generally acknowledged to be the first major work of literary surrealism. Breton and Soupault composed the text by means of automatic writing, a technique Soupault praised as "granting the spirit a liberty which we had known only in our dreams... freeing ourselves from all logical apparatus."¹ That same supra-rational, ego-negating poetic impulse currently finds expression in the use of computers to generate verse, a process that can also produce brilliant non-sense. Far from being arid and mechanical, the best poetry software embodies the personality of its author, imposing broadly consistent tone and form upon the output. The five lyrics that comprise The quantum fields were generated using McPoet 4.5 by Chris F. Westbury and The Surrealist Compliment Generator by Banjo Ruthless Creations, occasionally amended with non-automatic editorial interventions by the composer. The texts are narrated by Daniel, a posh British speaking voice built into the Mac's OS X operating system, who delivers his unhinged lines with imperious detachment.

¹ "Elles nous conduisirent a considerer la poesie comme une liberation, comme la possibilite (peut-etre la seule) d'accorder a l'esprit une liberte que nous n'avions connue que dans nos reves et de nous delivrer de tout appareil logique." Philippe Soupault, Profits perdus, 1963.

PLAY AUDIO

No. 1: Of flowers and assassins
to travel or to leave
only the heart knows
the days of snake and tourist are gone
and the gray earth saunters
is it really foolish
the disposable butterfly is the envy of every image
the erect serpent is the envy of every father
the surly sleazy dog vomits with reckless abandon
and somewhat
the eternal dog exists
softly
softly

No. 2: Resistant rabbits
by all accounts resistant rabbits are domestic
resistant rabbits
down down down into the darkness of the resistant rabbits
gently they go
the native
the nocturnal
the incontinent
pickled pigs however will always be slaughtered
do pickled pigs make you shiver
do they
don't believe that mature males are little
mature males are big beyond belief
pickled pigs are just the thing to get me wondering if mature males are handsome
one afternoon I said to myself
why aren't British birds more fat-free
British birds are greasy
British birds are rotund
British birds are incontinent
diabetic dogs however will always be vicious
never forget the malicious and malevolent diabetic dogs

No 3: I wonder where gravy comes from
I hear chanting weeping the gnashing of teeth
I want the whole pie
I touch the mildewed dampness
I worry that consciousness is eternal
I cry rivulets of broth
I understand nothing
I say I shall not be sublimated into vapor but I am helpless to stop it
I dream about multiple dimensions of being
I try to tear the heart from my heaving chest
I hope for searing heat and numbing chill
I wonder where gravy comes from

No. 4: You wear your ears well, so charmingly heathen
and true to the testament of loose fitting flesh
your skin hangs like a teardrop on the tip of a knife
seven donkeys and a concubine cannot compare with the tarnished sheen of your complexion
your eyebrows are as verdantly forrested as the woodworms of my most sombre dreams
the tiny sounds of ancient bees resound forth from the forrested coercions between your toes
and the dimples of your breasts pucker evocatively when you smile
the glow of your teeth exudes the courage of raw liver
and your fingers staple pine nuts into everything you touch
Your soul contains all that is found in insects pigs and vermin
but your arms lengthen daily like the edges of a festering table

No. 5: The baseball-obsessed population requires things from an apocalypse
the defense moves to scientific objectivity
but a silvery entry drifts
his courageous red-head is like obsessions
luxurious contemporary damnation
a fresh beagle
warmly joyfully damnation
more camouflages are similar to Edens
are silver castrations father
i's twenty-one percent sure that the terrible father likes the inevitable passing of time
neither one moves
the serpent wants things
from his caffeine moves
from his camaraderie takes
from his altruism moves
from his eye jumps
from his attitude his chain runs to his funeral procession
his definition teaches to a riot
his religious hunt shows things to an earlobe
may yogis run to their apartments
a number of contaminants will be cryptic oblivions
not enough people pine
the wet champagnes
some animal beetles expect gifts from the dying masses
An outdated error
flower of abdomen
arbitrarily increasingly error
those quick quivering questions and dainty dear denials understate
and a contemptible carnival is like the bitter zoos
some masculine cornucopias will be brutal
ecstatic outcomes
if Zeus had the ability to change algorithmic chaos I'd pray to the corrupt perfection
the serpent limps to the way you have programmed yourself
how is nothingness like social angst
if the compassionate lamp lighter had the power to change your neuronal wiring I'd ask to crawl to cameras
is a global conspiracy like the sleep
must his biology throw something to the freedom-loving confession
do you know why I fantasize about love
because Love likes at least one eloquent apocalypse
the nymph of poet
their own extravagance strives
to your bay must an early river march to at least one rotting plague
my moldy odor sheds light upon a fascination
a computer chip is like the TV audience
it bawls vulnerably
one less carnivorous fuzzy interest is an example of the evangelical interest
it's sixty-five percent sure that everything is a crazy monk
they both mock
each hand is like them
it extends from your hidden creativity
your causations offer a path to understanding an authorization
if belief had the power to change them I'd ask that ethical candlelights discover
a traitorous parent will become your glorious mind
if a well educated doctor had the power to change a mindless bureaucrat I'd ask for guitars to take things to many fewer crazy novelties
many more pelvises are living for innumerable philosophies
it dreams disgustingly
the serpent quarrels realistically
the avenger is like a novelty
it suffers from time
the serpent feels for the deference
your own furry variation offends palm
a bittersweet baggage
obituary of dance
so-called objective reality expects things from comely the current political environment
their variable vast vampire voluntarily
the thrilling oneness postpones
the red hiss is like desire
it finds pathways to a scientific objectivity
fallen mistress and tar of banana
I lipsynch to your men romantic
canonize your cave
oddity of epidermis
are astrologers not too imaginary to underestimate easily
a familiar foot perhaps
that none but we are not enough of us
I am yours for the asking
there is an unveil dogmatic here
if a biochemistry had the ability to change the dying masses I'd request a biochemistry to become increasingly clairvoyant
some organs will be angry
opulent flows
must the intrinsic preference stagger to a dainty predisposition
runs to this coffin
the Illumati is similar to an expertise of your dream
any obsessions are like your onrushs
they clamp
an aversion takes things to a poor elf
must the carefree poor quivering controversial contentments yearn
enthusiasms gather in fictitious young woman
crowds smoking
era and burning altruism to keep drunk
the serpent knows abnormally he has
any bitter captivities were intended for a lot of insects
calm
unrealistic unicorn's universe
no hawk
joyfully
joyfully
one less comfortable aberration
adultery of waste makes pathways to a kind of atlas
a fiery artist will play the role of Kali The destroyer
if the beetle had the power to change Cher I'd pray for greed to become more dangerous