Marcel Yorick presented the Bureau with an untitled Object Cinquain – an object-based poetic form that consists of five rhyming lines – and asked members of the Bureau’s different departments to translate it or reply with a new poem using the same structure.
As expected, there was much debate about both the subject matter and rhyming structure of Marcel’s poem. No one denied that the objects rhymed, but the departments disagreed about which objects rhymed and why they rhymed. Marcel would say that objects rhyme because of what they are, but as the Bureau knows well, what objects “are” depends on who’s looking.
Work FROM The Department of Form
For Theresa Landrine of the Department of Form, the rhyming structure of an object cinquain is based on the ways each object is geometrically constructed in space. She read Marcel’s poem with the following structure:
1. Organic Solid
2. Extrusion
3. Extrusion along a curve
4. Organic Plane
5. Extrusion
Also written as: A-B-B*-A*-B
Theresa clarified this rhyming structure further by translating the poem into the visual language of pure forms in virtual space. With regards to the subject matter, Theresa read Marcel’s poem as a lyrical musing on fertility, stringing together stylized representations of a mother goddess. In response, Theresa transposed Marcel’s poem onto another icon of fertility - the Venus of Willendorf - maintaining the same general expression and rhyming structure, but embellishing the phrasing.
Work FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MATTER
For Martin Vesper from the Department of Matter, an object cinquain’s rhyming structure is based on the objects having uniform size and related materials. Martin described the following structure for Marcel’s poem:
1. Wood
2. Metal
3. Metal
4. Synthetic
5. Wood
Also written as: A-B-B-C-A
In Martin’s eyes, a well written object cinquain speaks directly about how a geometric concept manifests through different materials and circumstances. Martin wrote two new poems using Marcel’s rhyming structure – one about spiraling and another about twisting.
However, Vince Maitland (also from the Department of Matter) felt that Martin’s assessment of Marcel’s rhyming structure was a bit weak and over-generalized. To Vince, an object cinquain’s rhyming structure is based on the material but also and processes used in each object’s production. He found the following structure in Marcel’s poem:
1. Carved & Painted Wood
2. Cast Iron
3. Formed Steel
4. Leatherworking Synthetic Material
5. Carved & Painted Wood
Also written as: A-B-B*-C-A
Vince also believed that Martin was too restrictive on the subject matter. In Vince’s mind, object cinquains can (and should) speak about more ambiguous and complex themes. Vince wrote the following object quintain using Marcel’s rhyming structure. When asked about its meaning, Vince declined to comment.
