Syllabic Gasps: M. NourbeSe Philip and Charles Olson’s Poetic Conspiration

Abstract In her essay ‘The Ga(s)p’, M. NourbeSe Philip sketches a respirational poetics that embeds the precarity of African American breath in natal scene conspiration. gesture ‘radical hospitality’, every mother breathes for unborn baby. Her book Zong! , consisting words torn from legal document about massacre on slave ship, is described as ‘series ga(s)ps air with syllabic sounds attached or overlaid’. moment when Philip’s reflections turn to syllables, striking resonance Charles Olson’s breathing 1950s can be observed. Both Olson and develop their thoughts syllables around act taking over word-material problematic ‘mother-text’. The investigates tensions between ethical ‘breathing with’ outlines it more common sense ‘conspiration’ (conspiring, conspiracy).