Dale M. Houstman

Dale Michael Houstman is a surrealist poet, songwriter, and visual artist who has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1972, and regular contributor to the Usenet newsgroups alt.arts.poetry.comments and rec.arts.poems. However, he believes that where he lives is of little consequence to what he is or hopes to be, especially as he has lived in many different places, none of which have a "nostalgic" hold on his imagination. As an "army brat" he had moved frequently in his youth, and lived in the Mojave Desert, Germany, and Maryland. He has also traveled frequently, most dramatically via hitchhiking, through the U.S. and Europe.

Life
He was born in King's Lynn, a medium-sized town in Norfolk, England on the River Great Ouse. It is part of the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district. He has since revisted his birthplace, and observed that it was (as expected) quaintly pretty, although polluted by an ugly shopping mall. This is not an uncommon process in the world.

He is the author of over twenty books of poems (including Alice Is Talking Again, "If Not Fully-Lit Lift Latch," "The Appetites," "Nagger," and "Short Grace Pass"). In addition, he has produced countless images in various media, is working on two surrealist novels ("The Tulsa Mini-Lion" and "The Case of the Auto-Congealing Oxygen), writes and records songs with his comrades in the Blue Feathers Surrealist group, and is one of the co-editors of the surrealist publication Blue Feathers. He continues to view Surrealism as the one technology available to lead the human race away from its own diminishment into a laboring hive mind, trapped in mestatizing capitalism.

Houstman was once a frequent contributor of poetry and commentary in Usenet poetry newsgroups, although of late - due to the growth of pointless contention in such groups, he has curtailed such participation, instead limiting his web "presence" (such as it is) to the creation of a web-site entitled Ghost Posters and Borborygmae which includes satire, images, poetry, and various other projects.

Among his various interests are "avant-garde" poetry, science fiction, film, music (of almost any kind), science, and anything which tends to challenge/critique/destroy the "as-is" of the accepted "common sense" of the world. He believes modern employment is a prison meant to keep the consumer in close proximity to the merchants, and that religious "thought" is the single largest chain upon human imagination and potential.

In real terms, he considers all his poetry and art to be secondary to breaking the bonds which tie the human race to their worst impulses, and finds value in his work only insofar as it lends support to revolutionary actions and processes. To say that he finds disappointment at the path of the world is a very real understatement. Yet he has always found creative action to be the one consistent method of revitalization. As an example of his thoughts on Surrealism, the following is offered...

"TO THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL SURREALIST CAMPS There is NO division between â€œSurrealist Artâ€ and â€œSurrealist Thoughtâ€, between â€œSurrealist Actionâ€ and â€œSurrealist Dreamsâ€, except as it exists in the minds of those who wish to benefit from this division at the expense of the Surrealist Movement. As long as those who only see surrealism as a conduit of â€œartistic expressionâ€ lay claim to its nomenclature, they will find themselves liable to intervention by those who KNOW surrealism in her full â€œblossomâ€: as a weapon against all complacencies, including that of people who settle for being mere artists in a world that demands transformation. IF surrealism is to be present in and (much more importantly) enactive of a world ready for that transformation, then it is important -- and will always be important -- that it be clearly presented. It is true, the ugly notion that surrealism can be embraced as a set of techniques is widespread. If we cannot hope to erase all such misrepresentations, at least we are not ready to allow the misconceptions we encounter to stand AS FACT. Dale Michael Houstman/Barrett John Erickson, August 2002"

- From "The Full Wiki", 2009.