“Take any sentence and print it backwards !
            sdrawkcab ti tnirp dna ecnetnes yna ekat !
            now redistribute the sentence on different lines
            sdrawkcab
            ti tnirp dna
            ecnetnes yna
            ekat!

            and that’s how to write a phonetic poem !

i’ve always been interested in turning words around and repeating simple sentences. this probably comes from hearing my father sing nonsense songs from his native village of stcheleeves near prague, where his family  settled in the wake of napoleon’s russian campaign. stcheleeves means ‘o’bourg du chardonneret’ (i.e. goldfinch town) and that was something i was unlikely to forget.”


raoul housmann