Why don’t more poets write porn? The two genres have a lot in common — for instance, deriving many of their most striking effects from recurring, recombinable figurations — and I’m sure both would gain a lot from the crossover. Dodie Bellamy’s Cunt Norton isn’t exactly porn, unfortunately, but it’s a step in the right direction, as its title might suggest. It’s a follow-up to Bellamy’s much-admired 2001 publication Cunt-Ups, which I somehow missed (maybe that had something to do with moving across the Atlantic around the time of its publication). Are the poems in the new volume pure cut-ups à la Tzara and Burroughs, or did Bellamy fiddle with aleatory procedures to improve the results? I suspect the latter but I don’t really care. All I know is that all the bits slip in and out of each other just fine. And what a relief: Despite the title, there’s just as much cock as cunt in these thirty-odd prose poems, so there’s something there for everyone. Basically, the book represents a traversal of the most famous British and American poets, in historical order from Cunt Chaucer, Cunt Spenser, and Cunt Shakespeare through Cunt Ginsberg, Cunt Ashbery, and Cunt Hughes, in chronological order — the only exception being T.S. Eliot, who is not mentioned by name, but is represented at the very beginning by the entirely italicized title poem: “At the still point of the turning world, slowly like a wave at Ocean City, at the still point where I dance and wiggle it around and it shivers, do not call it fixity where past and future really move. So I start fucking you again towards neither ascent nor decline…” A complaint: Why only one woman poet, a Cunt Dickinson but no Cunt Bishop, no Cunt Levertov, and likewise only one poet of a color — the other Cunt Hughes — but no Cunt Cullen (that should have been obvious), Cunt Baraka? Mind you, I’m only quibbling about a good thing because of wanting more of it. I think my favorite, though, may be Cunt Stevens. The “fiery poles” and “fragrant portals” of Key West have never before been quite this fiery, quite this fragrant. Unless it’s Cunt Cummings — the very name almost a porn poem in itself — which is so innocent, almost simple-minded in its erotic enthusiasm: “Girl, let’s have fun. (Here, dab my tears that float many bells down.) Spring on your hands and knees—let’s pluck and dance as woman and man, both fingered. Hey Pumpkin Fuck, what my eyes sow isn’t what they reap.” Exactly. Between the sowing and the reaping comes the naughty pleasures of misreading: soft-core but sweet.
Dodie Bellamy’s Cunt Norton (2013) is published by Les Figues Press and is available from Amazon and other online booksellers.
The Latest
Guggenheim Museum Union Rallies at VIP Opening
The museum’s commitment to diversity in exhibitions rings hollow to workers who say they are not receiving a fair wage.
Special Edition: 🖌️Artists’ Signatures ✍️
In this special edition, we investigate what artists’ signatures actually mean, and the fascinating results reveal the multifaceted history of this curious phenomenon.
The Public Theater Explores the Hurricane Katrina Diaspora in shadow/land
Written by Erika Dickerson-Despenza and directed by Candis C. Jones, this lyrical meditation on legacy, erotic fugitivity, and self-determination is on view in NYC.
What Is a Signature in the Internet Age?
As a cryptographic unit for record-keeping, an NFT can be seen as analogous to a signature or an autograph.
The Meaning of Ancient Greek and Roman Artisan Signatures
What did a signature mean in the ancient world, and how much can we trust what they seem to tell us?
The Rubin Museum Presents Death Is Not the End
Tibetan Buddhist and Christian works of art made across 12 centuries explore death, the afterlife, and the desire to continue to exist. On view in NYC.
Michelangelo’s Signature and the Myth of Genius
Michelangelo served as a stellar example for future artists who sought status and economic independence.
Uncovering the Photographer Behind Arshile Gorky’s Most Famous Painting
As we pursue photographer Hovhannes Avedaghayan a fascinating picture begins to emerge of him and the world of which he was part.
When I Am Empty Please Dispose of Me Properly
Ayanna Dozier, Ilana Harris-Babou, Meena Hasan, Lucia Hierro, Catherine Opie, Chuck Ramirez, and Pacifico Silano explore the myths of the American Dream at Brooklyn’s BRIC House.
100 Years of Artist Signatures in a Detroit Club
The beams in Detroit’s Scarab Club act as a guest book of sorts, carrying a wealth of stories and history, including signatures by Diego Rivera, Marcel Duchamp, Margaret Bourke-White, Isamu Noguchi, and others.
The Myth of Agency Around Artists’ Signatures
In an art world built on shifting sands, artists’ signatures become symbols of agency for some, and relics of the past for others.
Pratt’s 2023 Fine Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition Is On View in Brooklyn
The two-part exhibition features the work of 41 graduating artists across disciplines, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, and integrated practices.
The Women Artists Commemorated on an NYC Sidewalk
The signatures of Rosa Bonheur, Mary Cassatt, and six other historical women artists are engraved on a small stretch of sidewalk on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Met Museum Repatriates 15 Objects to India
The sculptures were all at one point sold by the disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor.
Another thought:
Do you really think the world needs more pornography? Isn’t there enough of it on the web for you? And how about the popular usage, attaching the word ‘porn’ to everything from . . . to . . . ? You name it.