On the Theory and Praxis of Nonsense Poetry as Dialogic Scrum; Or, the Poetical Hermeneutics of a Retro-Teleological, Post-Diegetic Transom (Notes towards an Investigation)

Abstract

Abstract This essay explores the nonsensical elements of the composition and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” a fifty-minute poetry reading by Michael Heyman and Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. prepared for the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association’s 2019 annual conference, “Send in the Clowns,” focusing primarily on the theory and practice of nonsense in relation to the writing and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” which was performed in San Diego by Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. and Michael Heyman at the 2019 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association conference, “Send in the Clowns.”