Robert Vas Dias
BLACK BOOK VI
undoubtedly prove catastrophic
poverty and squalor
a picture of terror networks
sentient enemy
a shroud of secrecy
lurks in the shadows
guaranteed to lead to panic
poverty and squalor
fears bordering on hysteria
beef up borders
wrapped in ignorance
invoked secrecy
leaks came flooding
fears bordering on hysteria
drone assassination
create a vulnerability
lurks in the shadows
irresistible in the face of fear
caliphate of terror
drones and special op teams
policies of surveillance
into massive security zone
regularly failed to work
reliance on intelligence
surveillance
special prisons or black sites
where anything went
invoke the powers of the state
same dismal pattern
prove irresistible in the face of fear
vast national security apparatus
threatens safety of civilians
drones and bombers
policies of surveillance
outbreaks of panic
enveloped in hysteria
wrapped in ignorance
military solutions prevailed
at all times I was scrupulous
in seeking to carry out my duties
in accordance with the law
drones and bombers
punish individuals for their associations
a shroud of secrecy
guaranteed to lead to panic
architects of the war on terror
quarantine, that is, detention
road to war
national security
address fantasies and fears
invoke the powers of the state
architects of the war on terror
leaks came flooding
beef up borders
fears bordering on hysteria
no militarized solution
create a vulnerability
drone assassination
Composition Procedure for Black Book VI, “undoubtedly prove catastrophic”
“undoubtedly prove catastrophic” is a systematic-chance piece from a base of individually selected input. The source is an article, “Fighting the Last War: Will the War on Terror Be the Template for the Ebola Crisis?” posted on TomDispatch.com by Karen J. Greenberg on 21 October 2014.
The first stage consisted of a list of 41 phrases I considered appropriate from the article, plus the reply by Jack Straw to questions submitted by the Guardian about his role as Foreign Secretary in knowing about the alleged torture of detainees who had been transferred by “extraordinary rendition” from Afghanistan and Iraq to special prisons and to Guantánamo Bay. (“Questions for Jack Straw over CIA torture report – and his response”, Guardian, 12.12.2014). The phrases and Straw’s identical replies were arranged on two pages.
The second stage was to use a well-shuffled deck of playing cards to determine phrases and replies. Two pages were necessary because there are 52 cards in a pack, plus two jokers. The second page completed the run of suites subject to a second shuffle. Each phrase was given a specific card; thus, the title, “undoubtedly prove catastrophic,” was determined by the first card drawn: the ace of hearts. The jokers were included on the off-chance they would call up the two halves of Straw’s identical replies. By pure chance, the two jokers appeared one after the other, completing the full text of Straw’s identical replies.
The third stage was to arrange the phrases and replies in the order in which the cards determined they occurred on several pages after every card had been drawn.
BLACK BOOK VIII
YOU'RE ALSO INTERESTING
ENHANCED INTERROGATION
OUR BELIEF IS THE TRUE BELIEF
SURGICAL PRECISION
WRONG
TAKE OUT
SUNDERED WATERWORKS
TAKE OUT
TO MAKE MY SIDE
HUMAN RESOURCES
WORDS I USE TO FORM MY WALLS
NEUTRALIZING
WHERE THE OTHER SIDE / RESIDES
ASSETS
THE WRONG BELIEF
COMPOUNDS
THEN I KNEW
REDACTED
BROKEN UP INTO FRAGMENTS
ASSETS
CONSIDER THE FORMING OF WALLS
REDACTED
THE WORLD HAS NOT BEEN
EXTREME PREJUDICE
INTERESTED IN YOU
CLEANSING
I FORM A WALL WITHIN YOU
PERSONNEL TARGETS
NO RIGHT TO BE WHERE YOU ARE
REDACTED
WOUNDED CHILDREN
ILLEGAL ALIENS
RUBBLED MOTHERS RUBBLED
CLEANSING
LIVED ON THE WRONG SIDE
EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION
I SHALL DEPRIVE YOU
EXTREME PREJUDICE
POLLUTE THE TRUTH
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
OUR BELIEF IS THE TRUE BELIEF
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
RUBBLED SONS
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
SUNDERED NURSERIES
REDACTED
I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
This poem is composed of phrases selected by a systematic-chance procedure from the first five Black Book poems according to the following method.
Materials include six pages of Black Book text [Black Book I (2 pp), II, III, IV, V], a list of numbers of letters of alphabet, a list of euphemisms used chiefly by the military and bureaucracies, and a roulette wheel. The euphemisms are from Gorge Monbiot, “ 'Cleansing the stock' and the doublespeak we must defeat,” Guardian, 22.10.2014, p. 33.
The following steps are performed in order:
First spin of the wheel: red number is right half of line of poetry, black number is left half of line (numbers 0 and 27-36 of roulette wheel are ignored); the line halves are judged to be where pauses naturally occur, at the cæsuras, etc. The number is that of the letter of the alphabet, which determines the page of text; the alphabet number is also the first letter of a word in a line of verse on that page; if no first letter is found on that page, then the next page and subsequent pages are searched for that letter.
Second spin of the wheel: the number of the euphemism, which is inserted after each phrase.
BLACK BOOK V: PROSECUTION & DEFENCE
you say I'm an illegal
I say I can't be illegal because I exist
you say I'm illegal because I don't belong
I say I belong wherever I am
you say I'm illegal because I have no papers
I say I don't need papers to say who I am
you say I'm illegal because I can't prove I'm legal
I say my proof is that I am me
you say I'm illegal so cannot live where you live
I say I can live where anyone lives
you say I'm illegal and cannot work legally
I say I can put in a legal day's work
you say I'm illegal and must stay in a camp
I say I did not come here to camp out
you say I'm illegal and should go back to my country
I say they will kill me in my country
you say I'm illegal and will be placed in detention
I say you cannot detain me for wanting to live
you say I'm illegal and your laws will apply to me
I say your laws will not stop me from seeking a life
you say I'm illegal and must stay where I am
I say I have come too far to stay where I am
you say I'm illegal and too far is far enough
I say I will go as far as I have to
Copyright © Robert Vas Dias 2015
Robert
Vas Dias,
an Anglo-American born and now resident in London, has published 11 collections in the UK and USA, the most recent of which is Arrivals &
Departures: Prose Poems (Shearsman 2014). His poetry and criticism have
appeared in over 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in both
countries. A collaborative book with the British artist Julia
Farrer, Syntax of Bridges, was launched in New York in November 2014 and
London in February 2015. He has recently published papers on the prose poem and
on the American poet Paul Blackburn, and in December 2014 he presented a paper
at the Contemporary Innovative Poetry seminars at the University of London on
the systematic- chance compositions of the American poet Jackson Mac Low.
