This reminds me of the short story (if you could call it that) "Scratch," by Iain M. Banks. It's a stream-of-consciousness critique/rant/word object attacking Margaret Thatcher's England, with a definite fear-of-nuclear-war aspect. It's so chaotic that I couldn't even read it at first, let alone interpret it, but it's grown on me over the years. The accompanying illustration in the copy I own helps a lot: a mushroom cloud rising over a street with parked cars and a discarded newspaper in the foreground: the infamous "GOTCHA" cover of The Sun from the Falklands War.
Oof, yeah, that version looks pretty awful! The print version of "The State of the Art" is definitely better... although I admit for "Scratch" it may not seem much different at first.
The best lines in this poem are far better than pretty much any other poetry from that era, so I can excuse the dreck.
This reminds me of the short story (if you could call it that) "Scratch," by Iain M. Banks. It's a stream-of-consciousness critique/rant/word object attacking Margaret Thatcher's England, with a definite fear-of-nuclear-war aspect. It's so chaotic that I couldn't even read it at first, let alone interpret it, but it's grown on me over the years. The accompanying illustration in the copy I own helps a lot: a mushroom cloud rising over a street with parked cars and a discarded newspaper in the foreground: the infamous "GOTCHA" cover of The Sun from the Falklands War.
Was this in "The State of the Art" or did you read it elsewhere?
I found a version here (https://library.uniteddiversity.coop/More_Books_and_Reports/The_Culture_Novels-Iain_M_Bainks-Anarchist_Science_Fiction/iain%20m%20banks%20-%201989%20-%20the%20state%20of%20the%20art/Iain%20M.%20Banks%20-%20The%20State%20of%20the%20Art%20v1.html) but I would imagine the proper printed version reads slightly easier.
Oof, yeah, that version looks pretty awful! The print version of "The State of the Art" is definitely better... although I admit for "Scratch" it may not seem much different at first.