Original version of Emmett Williams’ concrete love poem _Sweethearts, later published by Something Else Press and Walther König.
From the book:
“instructions for use
the structural and textural characteristics of this erotic poem cycle derive from the 11 letters of the word sweethearts
unluckily for the poet 3 of these 11 letters are ‘es’ and 2 others each occur twice so that there are only 7 different ones for word building from these letters are extracted all the words that make the poem the position of each letter on the page is determined by its place in the word sweethearts
no single poem can be more than 11 letters wide or 11 letters deep
in addition to the word poems there are kinetic metaphors also constructed from the 11 letters of sweethearts
these sections can be animated by flipping the pages fast enough to achieve a primitive cinematic effect
the words and the kinetic visual metaphors work hand in hand to express what the poem is all about
the author feels that this fusion is best achieved by beginning the book where in the west books traditionally end
emmett williams new york city july august 1966”