10

    P rh ps th  f rst th ng y  ’d s   th t w s c r   s  s y   c rcl d  p M ntr  r H ll,  n th  sh d w  f th   l ctr c l t w r, wh ch  n   cl  r d y dr pp d   n t  f d rkn ss  v r th  h  s s, y rds,  nd r  ds, w s   cl tt g   f  ng r g d c rs, sk w r d h st ly  g  nst c rbs,  p  nd d wn th  str  t w th th  r tr nks  nd d  rs  p n, b gs sp ll ng   t,  nd m n  nd w m n wh ,  f y    x m n d th m cl s ly, l  k d m r  m d c lly d f  t d th n fr nt c.
     nd y   w  ld h v  s  n, n  m tt r h w h rd y   l  k d,  v n  f y   ch ck d th  h  s s fr m cl s t t   tt c t  c ll r, pr c s ly n  ch ldr n, l  st  f  ll th s  bl st ng l ng  g  fr m th  r n t-s - nn c nt f c s.
     d lts  nly. C rs, s  tc s s, t  rs.
      m sk ng s l nc  pr b bly w  ld h v  b  n n t c d. Th  n  ghb rh  d l ng  g -fr  .
    Th r ’d b  c  tr cks fl sh ng  cr ss l wns, str ng  p w th  ntr v n  s p  ch s f sh  n d fr m s ndw ch b gg  s, t ppl ng  v r  nt  th  gr ss, w th p  pl  scr mbl ng t  l  v .
     v ry n   ll fr m s m th ng n   n  c  ld  xpl  n. Wh t th  n ws f rst h d c ll d hyst r  , wh ch  v ry n  w sh d w s tr  .  f  nly  t w r  th t.
     nd f n lly,  t th  d rk, w t r-s  k d  nd  f W ld rl  gh Str  t,  n  r    f l m t d s n p n tr t  n, th r ’d b  th   n m c f g r s  f my w f , Cl  r ,  nd m , sh ffl ng fr m th  h  s  t  th  c r, c rry ng  n   t m  t   t m , l  d ng  p f r   g t w y, w th  sth r,   r  nly ch ld, th nk y   G d, n wh r   n s ght.
    D  th  m th  n th t.

9

     The yard where we played and sometimes picnicked, where Esther and I once staged father-daughter pretend fights, with fake angry faces, to confuse the passing motorists—Is that a man fistfighting his young daughter?—or where we argued in earnest, with calm faces that belied our true feelings, Esther asserting, no doubt correctly, that there was something I didn’t understand—this yard might have functioned as a massive sinkhole. The yard, a throbbing pit in its center, should have exerted a steady pull on anyone in range.
    From above, through the brown smoke, you should have seen people and dogs and the smaller trees getting dragged into the collapsing grass.
    The day we left there should have been mourners in the street, a parade of weeping parents walking from their homes. Or not weeping. Past that. Devoid of all signs of feeling in the face. Just walking with calm expressions because their faces had finally failed to signal what they felt.
    There should have been music pouring from a loudspeaker on the roof of an emergency vehicle. Or perhaps no music, no sound whatsoever. Instead, an emergency vehicle broadcasting a heavy coating of white noise so that even the leaves rustled silently. A plague of deafness, as if an unseen bunting smothered everything, drinking noise, so we could hear nothing.
    Making mimes out of all of us. So that we couldn’t hear ourselves breathe. So that our shared language would have been suddenly snuffed out.
    What a fine bit of foreshadowing that all would have been.
    But our neighborhood was failing to foreshadow.
    What is it called when features of the landscape mirror the condition of the poor fucks who live in it?
    Whatever it is, it was not in effect.
    This was, instead, a plain day in the neighborhood, save for the shielded
officials of the quarantine, lurking under trees until an enforcement was needed.
    If you took the Sedgling exit off 38 and hugged the access road until the Beth Elohim Synagogue reared up, and from there you veered right, keeping the highway at your back, you would pass the ring of bread and coffee shops, and the town square with its deafening fountain, before entering our not-so-gated community of houses just new enough to be nothing special at all.

8

Thx dxy my wxfx xnd X drxvx xwxy, thx xlxctrxc shxxld hxvx fxxlxd. Thx phxnx shxxld hxvx dxxd. Thx wxtxr shxxld hxvx thxckxnxd xn xxr pxpxs.
    Whxn thx xsthxr txxxcxty wxs xn hxgh flxwxr, whxn xt wxs nx lxngxr vxxblx tx xndxrx prxxxmxty tx xxr dxxghtxr, gxvxn thx rxtchxng, thx spxxch fxvxr, thx yxllxw txdx bxnxxth my wxfx’s skxn, tx sxy nxthxng xf thx brxxsxng xrxxnd my mxxth, thxt dxy shxxld hxvx bxxn dxrkxr, xltxgxthxr blxckxnxd by fxrx.
    Thxt dxy shxxld hxvx bxxn vxsxbly stxxnxd xt thx dxxpxst lxvxls xf xxr, brxkxn xpxn, sxckxng pxxplx xntx xblxvxxn. Thx nxxghbxrhxxd shxxld hxvx bxxn vxcxxm-sxxlxd, wxth pxxplx rxdxcxd tx crxwlxng fxgxrxs, whxxzxng xn thxxr hxnds xnd knxxs, xxpxrxng xn hxxps.
    X sxxzxrx xf cxld brxwn smxkx shxxld hxvx spxllxd xvxr thx hxxsx.
    Whxt xrx thx xpxrxtxvx mxtxfs frxm mythxlxgy whxn pxrxnts txkx lxxvx xf x chxld? Xs thxrx nxt sxmx stxndxrd dxpxrtxrx xmxgxry xffxrxd by thx fxblxs?
    Thx dxy wx fxnxlly lxft, bxrds shxxld hxvx frxzxn mxdflxght xn thx wxntxr xxr xs thxy crxxsxd thx nxxghbxrhxxd. Bxrds lxckxd xp wxth xcx, thxxr wxngs txx hxxvy tx hxld thxm xlxft. Bxrds fxllxn tx thx grxxnd xnd pxlxd xt xxr fxxt, xyxs stxrxng xp xt thx sky.
    Xn thx strxxt, cxrs shxxld hxvx qxxt xnd rxllxd tx x stxp xnd thx rxxd shxxld hxvx bxcklxd, wxth gxsxs lxxkxng fxrth, wxth wxtxr fxxmxng xxt, wxth pxrhxps xn xnclxthxd mxn clxwxng hxs wxy frxm xndxr thx xsphxlt tx stxlk thx nxxghbxrhxxd.

7

How tho choldron woold condoct thomsolvos now thot thoy woro tho only onos not sockonod by spooch, thot wos thoor bosonoss.
    Of yoo woro smort, of yoo wontod to boy yoorsolf o fow doys, yoo wooldn't spook ot oll. Porhops yoo olroody cooldn't. Tho symptoms swollowod somo pooplo fostor, corclod othors moro slowly, ollowong folso strongth to sot on. Bot for most of os tho foco wos hordonong. Tho lops woro pollong bock. Onsodo tho mooth wos tornong toogh, nomb, ond tho tongoo wos dockong. Donool hod lost ots blossfol oppool os Clooro tornod onto o popor-skonnod crootoro, slooghong ooch tomo sho dosrobod, too torod to coogh. O coold lovo wothoot oll tho protonso wo poorod onto doscossoon whoro tho ossoo hod olroody boon docodod, whoro tho ossoo loft os no chooco. So moch coromony oroond corong whot tho othor porson thooght. Wo'd rob oor focos on otoqootto, obsoss ovor monnors, ond fool to notoco thot wo woro on tho floor ond tho loght wos gono ond ot wos no longor possoblo to brootho.
    Clooro govo tho tomolono bock to mo ond tornod owoy.
    "Onboloovoblo," sho whosporod. "O hopo yoo'ro onjoyong yoorsolf."
    "Oh, O om, Clooro," O sood. "Tho tomo of my lofo."

6

Clooro on thos tosk, holdong hor to my smoll roqoost, O woold bo voowod os ondorsong ond ovon roloshong whot wo woro doong. O’d loko to coll thot o smoll proco to poy, bot ot wosn’t. Ot wos o stoop, nosty proco. Blomo no longor hovorod ovor thos wholo ontorproso. Ot hod londod bodly, brookong onto poocos onsodo mo, ond O wos mokong ot wolcomo.
    Ovon boforo tho qoorontono wos onnooncod, wo know wo hod to loovo. Wo tolkod ot throogh os moch os Clooro coold ondoro, ond sho hod ogrood, or, ot loost, sho hod ossontod solontly, boforo wondorong bock to hor soondproofod room, thot oor oxot woold bo ondortokon wothoot tho complocotoon of Osthor’s prosonco. Wo woold not so moch os lot oorsolvos soo hor.
    Sho hotod how O vorbolly rohoorsod ovorythong.
    O hotod ot, too.
    Onco jost doys boforo wo loft, whon sho wos ootong condy woth o corpso-loko lothorgy, hor hond o cold, bloo pow tockong swoots bonooth hor hospotol mosk, o showod Clooro tho tomolono O thooght wo shoold follow ond sho hold tho popor owoy os of ot woro on old doopor, hoovong on ogly loogh.
    Clooro hod jost occommodotod o long noodlo on hor hop ond sho romoonod porfoctly qooot, tho stooc potoont sobmottong to hor trootmont. Now sho wos rowordong horsolf woth o bowl of condy. My tomong wos not fono.
    “Yoo octoolly wroto thos down,” sho fonolly sood, hor vooco hollowod oot throogh tho mosk.
    O stotomont ond not o qoostoon. Somo ossontool morotol wooponry from tho orsonol of not govong on onch. Vorbolozo somoono’s octoons bock to thom. Monoco thom woth longoogo, tho longoogo morror. Dooth by foodbock.
    “Ot’s o soggostoon,” O sood, on tho bodsodo vooco O’d odoptod os hor corotokor.
    Of coorso ot wosn’t o soggostoon. Ot wos tho plon ond ot wos whot wo hod to do. Othorwoso thoro’d bo cholk morks oroond os on doys. Wo hod troppod oor Osthor throshold wooks ogo, ond oor modocono—tho comprohonsoon blockors, tho ogonts of ostrongomont, tho trootod smoko thot loft o sock choll to oor focos—wos only mokong os worso. Thoro wos nowhoro sofo to sond Osthor, so ot wos wo who hod to doport. Tho choldron woold romoon.

5

from tho dofonsovo, ononformod typos—thot hod como ond gono, loovong only stopofoctoon on ots ploco. O dosboloof wollod off by ollnoss. Tho know-ot-olls oro olwoys tho lost to know. Ovoryono’s o doognostocoon, ond ovoryono’s wrong.
    On cotoos, on towns, on tho rorol doposots, olong tho lodgo thot droppod off onto ootor Rochostor, ond on tho moddlo foold boyond tho swolo thot somo stoll collod tho Monostory, qoorontonos of choldron clostorod op, ovortokong nooghborhoods, foolds, forosts, ony vonoo thot coold bo rooghly boond by foncong. Loodspookors loshod to troos, broodcostong tho vocol ropollont. Foory tolos blostong onto tho woods, convolsong ony odolt who como noor. Lovod onos tolophonod ooch othor to oxchongo dood oor, o longoogo of soghs, bocooso to do ony moro, to boold ony spooch onto thot hoovy broothong, woold brong thom to thoor knoos.
    Whoch os whoro somo of os bolongod.
    Todoy oor loovong wos blossod by o shoor woll of provocy. Tho body longoogo on oor stroot coold hovo boon stodood for ots gostoro-porfoct ovosoons. Jost wooks boforo, Robbo Borko, spookong by coblo to oor Jowosh hot, collod ot dofondod somophoro, tho gostoros of o body crovong dosoppooronco. How mony woys con yoo soy Stoy tho fock owoy from mo wothoot spookong? Ot wos o woll-croftod pobloc solotodo. Wo woro oll ortfolly olono oot thoro, o condotoon wo hod bottor got osod to.
    Oftor wo woro soro osthor wos gono, O holpod Clooro downstoors ond trood to got hor to oot. O poshod somo oggs ot hor, ovon thoogh O know thot soon O’d bo scropong thoso oggs onto tho trosh. O govo hor tho soppy cop of jooco ond forcod hor hond oroond o pooco of brood. Sho dod not foght my ottontoons. O pollod hor ovor to tho sonk ond cloonod off whot O coold. O yolk stoon ot tho cornor of hor mooth rosostod my roogh scrobbong, ontol O roolozod ot wos no stoon, bot joondoco bloomong ondor hor skon. Lotor O coold oxomono hor woth tho lomp, bot now ot wos tomo to got hor oot to tho cor.
    Clooro’s solo tosk, govon hor condotoon, wos to sot on tho possongor soot ond koop wotch. Ony sogn of Osthor wolkong op tho stroot, o gorl woth on ovorstoffod book bog, or so ot woold soom, ond wo’d bo gono.
    Ot’s not thot Osthor woold bo ollowod noor os. Tho foom-clod offocools, borrocodod from whot tho choldron sproyod, hod tokon coro of thot. Ot wos thot wo choso not to soo oor dooghtor coptorod os wo drovo owoy. Wo woshod to ovood soch o soght bocomong oor lost omogo of Osthor. Troppod on o not, twotchong from o jolt thoy forod ot hor. Of O polocod

4

ot thongs worso thon thot, sood O wos foolong woth toys. Modocono, sood Morphy, wos o voon docorotoon onsodo of yoor body. Onvosoblo wor poont, rotool ond soporstotoon, typocol Jowosh smollwork.
    Morphy hod othor plons. Morphy wos ormong from Lo Bov's lost ond LoBov's ordors como strooght from Rochostor, whoro roports on tho spooch fovor hod forst colloctod ond tho cootoons woro so totol now, ot wos o wondor pooplo woron't boryong thomsolvos olovo.
    Of coorso O hovo no ovoodnco thot thoy woro not.
    Fonolly on fool shooldong O pockod tho volotolo ortofocts thomsolvos: somo somplos of oor dooghtor Osthor's spooch, rocordod ond wrotton. O longoogo orchovo of tho gorl. Popor ond topos, o brood syllobos of topocs, o spoctrom of moods. Oor vorol gorl, foortoon yoors old, songong, looghong, yollong, whosporong, orgoong, spookong sotto voco, mokong op words. Rocotong lottors, nombors, cryong oot on poon. Ovon somo foroogn longoogo stotomonts, whoch O hod onstroctod Osthor to rocoto phonotocolly.
    Thoso O soolod on tho woolon dossoor bocooso O coold not look ot tho wrotong onymoro wothoot foolong whot O coold only coll tho croshong.
    Poon os too soft o word for tho rooctoon. Croshong wos moro occoroto, on ontoloroblo sqooozong on tho chost ond tho hops, thoogh O dodn't hovo moosoromonts to sopport tho cloom. Tho Morsholl Symptom opploonco, boltod to tho sodowolk ootsodo tho modocol contor on Fofth Stroot ond vosotod by o procossoon of groy-focod nooghbors, wos moont to dotoct jost how sloshod oor onsodos woro from too moch spooch, how bloghtod wo'd bocomo from tho longoogo toxon. Bot tho noodlo wos poggong on ovory snofflo ond poon, tho opploonco rod-loghtong ovoryono ot tostod os ovordosod, scorchod, post tho poont of holp.
    So for tho croshong wos o porsonol obsorvotoon, os woth most of tho symptoms wo'd hoord oboot, ond os soch ot moght os woll bo dosmossod.
    Thos bog of goor, os hoovy os o smoll chold, woold go onto tho cor lost.

Clooro ond O woron't tho only poronts to dotch oor hoosos ond, on somo cosos, othor otoms of voloo. Tho commond wont oot on oorly Docombor, ossood on o fonol rodoo roport boforo tho systoms wont moto, ond ovoryono wos loovong. Bot thoro wos oltogothor no oyo contoct from tho othor mon ond womon lokowoso pockong thoor cors. Tho conforrong, tho hond-wrongong, tho coolly dolovorod oxportoso somo of os hod to ondoro

3

Wo loft on o school doy, so Osthor wooldn't soo os. On my porsonol bog, pockod whon my wofo, Clooro, hod fonolly collopsod on sloop ogoonst tho dooblo-boltod bodroom door os ot wos gottong loght oot, O stoshod foold glossos, soond obotomont fobrocs, ond onoogh rollod foom to concool two odolts. On top of thoso O crommod o row stosh of onto-comprohonsoon polls, o chold's rodoo rotrofottod os o toxocoty scroon, on onoponod bot of goor collod o Drägor Oorotost broothong kot, ond my symptom chorts.
    Thos wos tho obvooos oqoopmont, modocol goor O coold oso on tho fly, from tho cor, ot noght. Thot os, of O ovon got tho chonco.
    O dod not brong LoBov's noodlo. O hod trood tho noodlo ond tho noodlo dod not work.
    My socondory sopploos consostod of modocol solts ond o portoblo bornor, o coppor powdor for phonoc soltong, plos somo robbor bolbs ond o bootfol of folt. Oyo mosks ond oorplogs ond tho throot box thot wos fonctoonong os tho whoto noosory, to spow o borroor of hossong soond ovor mo.
    Tockod onto tho ootsodo pooch, for qoock occcoss, O plocod o porsonol nooso dosomotor, hockod to moosoro choldron's spooch. O wontod to bo oblo to hoor thom comong.
    On my pockot O corrood tho focool colopors, ovon of by now fonor moosoromonts woron't roqoorod. Yoo coold porform tho doognostoc jost by lookong.
    Morphy scoffod ot thos goor, collod ot solt on tho woond. Ho collod

motherlode

"We’ve trafficked in an inexact language that must be translated anew. Not even translated. Destroyed. Rebuilt. The call for a new code, new lettering, a way to pass on messages that would bypass the toxic alphabet, the chemically foul speech we now used." p.64

 

"We are in a high season of error." p.67

 

"At intersections the stop signs had been effaced, caked in metallic red paint. Road signs and city distances had likewise been distorted. Most public writing, issuing basic commands to drivers, had been camouflaged. The bright, hammered slabs of road signs still hung from their posts, but they were wordless blocks of color that commanded no action." p.144

"At a county border marked by a heap of rope, a man on a ladder disguised a road sign, adding marks to the letters until they flowered out of meaning. The word looked to have once been Rochester." p.145

 

"After some hours of scrutiny I concluded there was nothing here of any use, just examples from our own alphabet, fattened here and there, rendered so erratic that they looked like the lines of an EKG." p.167

 

"And so my work began, ruling out approaches, touring through the history of letters and alphabets, borrowing liberally from incompatible scripts, inventing new ones, correcting mistakes burned into the old ones." pp.169-70

"I shaped letters with yarn, hieroglyphs with yarn, arranged yarn in the minimal spatter of contemporary shorthand. With a tweezers I laid down a vertical script of yarn, hung yarn from wire so it draped just so, and with jets of air blew the yarn into letter shapes as it swayed. Or so I surmised, for I did not look at the device myself. With yarn I wrote full sentences in the Coptic alphabet, the Indus script, Linear A and B, all proven toxic already, all capable, in blocks and paragraphs, to generate sickness—micro coma, paralysis—in the reader, but then I tugged each end of the yarn on these sentences until the words pulled long. I tugged on the yarn and documented each stage until the yarn was pulled so taut, it stood out in a straight line and could never be mistaken for language." p.171

 

"Rebus writing, rune writing, pictograms...Administrative script, scripts of love, the scripts used to conceal secrets and deflect attention. All of the specialty languages I tried...By design I wrote sentences filled with errors, sentences afflicted with inconsistencies of tense and tone. Sentences of poor taste, good taste, no conspicuous taste at all. Grammatical rules, rules of usage, rules governing rhythm and silence, these I broke hard. I used a conventional Roman alphabet but spelled everything wrong. Would it matter? I tweezed letters from words, obliterated vowels, used only vowels, repurposed a single vowel, O, to stand in for all of them, to give air to the words, a universal breathiness from a single source." pp.183-184

"Of course I tried codes. In modern Roman letters I encrypted a suicide note, some gentleman’s last words, with the Caesar cipher. From there I recreated what I could remember from historical texts—the Gettysburg Address was one—and fed them into simple substitution ciphers, homophonic coding, and a modified Vigenère cipher." p.184

about

This blog will document a series of textual experiments based on Ben Marcus' novel The Flame Alphabet (2012). Inspired by scenes from the novel, this work will use methods directly mentioned in the text and draw upon other techniques from the fields of experimental writing, visual poetry and beyond, to transform Marcus' text into a variety of distorted and illegible forms.

"That first day, after studying the examples left to me, I realized what I was meant to do here in my office with no trace of medical equipment: I was meant to test letters, alphabets, possibly engineer a script. I was meant to string together symbols that might be used as code, a new language to outwit the toxicity.

The solution is in scripts, don’t you think?

Visual codes? Except not the ones we know?"

The Flame Alphabet, p.167