page_title: Dave Morice
section_title: The Joyce Holland Literary Hoax
hierarchical_section_title: Dave Morice / The Joyce Holland Literary Hoax
caption_attribution_description: Joyce Holland Reading
context_page_description: Dave Morice is an American writer, visual artist, performance artist, and educator. He has written and published under the names Dave Morice, Joyce Holland, and Dr. Alphabet. His works include 60 Poetry Marathons, three anthologies of Poetry Comics, The Wooden Nickel Art Project, and other art and writing. He is one of the founders of the Actualist Poetry Movement.
  In 2013, a biography of Morice was written by Tom Walz, Professor Emeritus of the University of Iowa and Joye Chizek, artist and writer called "Dr. Alphabet Unmasked: Inside the Creative Mind of David Morice". The biography feature numerous photos and illustrations as well as a complete listing of published works by Morice.
context_section_description: From 1972 to 1975, Morice perpetrated a literary hoax: "He invented 'Joyce Holland', a minimalist poet and performance artist who had no small effect on the poetry world." She wrote concrete and minimalist poems and sent submissions to literary magazines, 29 of which published her work. James Mechem, editor of Out of Sight, invited her to be a guest editor. She assembled an Actualist Poets issue.
  To expand the hoax, Joyce Holland (Morice) put out thirteen issues of Matchbook, a magazine of one-word poems, costing five cents a copy. She received a grant of $50 from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund the magazine. Each issue was printed on one-inch square pages stapled inside of matchbooks donated by local businesses. The sixth issue was an "all-women's issue", the seventh was a "do-it-yourself" issue, and the eighth was an "actualist convention issue".
  About the extremes of poetry, critic Richard Morris writes: "Some styles go so far as to leave the traditional conception of the "poem" behind. We have found poetry, visual poetry, a poetry that is being written in prose forms…, even minimal poetry (see Joyce Holland's magazine of one-word poems, Matchbook.)"
  In these twelve examples, each poet's name is followed by his or her poem in parentheses. Aram Saroyan is the originator of one-word poetry.
  Holland also published Alphabet Anthology, a collection of one-letter poems by 104 contributors. The index tallied up the letters, showing that "o" was chosen most often, and "c" was chosen by no one.
  Morice's girlfriend, P.J. Casteel, an actress, played the physical role by giving readings and by meeting visiting writers to whom she was introduced as Joyce Holland. During these visits, the Actualists, who were in on the hoax, called her by that name. In 1974, Morice and Holland (Casteel) appeared on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show. During the program, Morice wrote a poem on her dress, and Holland led the audience in a "Poetry Cheer".
caption: P.J. Casteel as Joyce Holland
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