O SPAM, POAMS: Selected Daily Treated Spam 2003-2005

In September 2003 Rob Read began to edit, transform, and  ‘treat’ his incoming junk e-mail or ‘spam’ into poems which were then sent out again to a list of friends he thought might appreciate them. In fact, the present publisher discovered the first of them in his junkmail box, where his email program had conveniently filed them. Initially sent away with no archival copies saved, this collection represents Read’s revisiting of these (almost) daily poems, which were luckily saved by a recipient who felt they were important enough to archive.

Cut down and heavily edited to the most fascinating ‘spams’, O Spam, Poams showcases the daring approaches Read takes while creating relics from junk, pulp from dross, and narrative gleams from abstractions (and sometimes vice versa). The effects produced range from hilarious to pensive, anecdotal to ahh-inspiring.