The twentieth century is an invention of the Christian West. I wanted a 'title' that would allow me to order, re-order and disorder a text or a series of strands of texts in sequences, something that could be read in a number of ways. 3 Mesopotamia 1 is, for example, 'History of Sensation 1'. Empty Diaries is a long sequence of poems, one of which is 'Mesopotamia 3'. Therefore, to read it linearly, which is almost chronologically, causes it to double back upon itself.
Many texts belong to more than one strand.
New strands, even retrospectively, can be added to the weave. I have toyed with Deleuze and Guattari's term 'rhizome' in my hunt for the adequate metaphor, but I'm not sure that's what I'm producing, exactly. In a way, I would say that this schema organises continuities I've often sensed between texts of mine, the feeling of one poem continuing, even in contradiction, another. The second 'Materialisation of Soap', was written in 1992 and belongs to the Empty Diaries 1946-1966 sequence, 'Twentieth Century Blues 16'. They therefore belong apart as much as they belong together.