DELTA-X SHREDDED SOUL

Arlington, VA: [Self-Published], 1972. First Edition. Near fine.. A remarkable collection of unselfconsciously prescient outsider verse. Lelle was a Virginia-based computer scientist (the included note mentions popular 70s computer systems KRONOS and SCOPE) and these amateur poems show an uncommonly early influence of code and programming. As such they read at times not unlike proto-L=A=N-G=U=A=G=E verse by way of concrete poetry. Titles like "Vector Space," "Debug," "Big Bang Theory," "Matrix Cross Product, "Null Space," and "Binary Gulch," show the clear influence of science, while others ("Paperclip Consciousness," "Cubicle Truth") allude to office-work and even the counterculture ("The Redneck and the Hippie"). Throughout, the voice is an original one, an unusual confluence of logic, earnestness, and experimentation. Lelle deploys symbolic logic, unusual (computer) punctuation, and linguistic playfulness (including Unconventional Dickensonian Capitalization) to strangely accomplished effect, buoyed in no small part by the presentation: a period monospaced font that evokes computer printers and office electric typewriters, lending the entire production the intentionality of an artist's book. Undoubtedly produced in tiny numbers for distribution to friends, OCLC finds one location (Yale). "[Hey man, write a sub- / Routine that will / Make / A / Crow fly]" 8vo. Japanese-style sting-bound leather wraps. Touches of wear. Some toning internally. Still, near fine. 214pp.