Lines from the Reports / Dadaism

Reading the poem “Lines from the Reports of the Investigative Committees” by Joel Brouwer (1968-present) I couldn’t help but wonder how pleased Tristan Tzara (1896-1963) would have been if he was still around to see it. Brouwer’s 2010 poem follows some of Tzara’s 1920 instructions on “How to Make a Dadaist Poem.”

As the title says, Brouwer literally takes lines from investigative reports on the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, on April 22, 2010, some 40 miles southeast off the Louisiana coast. Known as the Gulf or BP Oil Spill, the event is recognized as the worst oil spill in U.S. history. And the most covered up, too; for example, it is not well known that BP hired prison labor for the clean-up. Brouwer’s poem showcases and ridicules the official language with which the oil spill was covered, as well as covered-up, by the media.

The lines Brouwer chose don’t follow a linear narrative, and seem to be almost random, which is the nature of a Dadaist poem. Tzara’s instructions state that you must 1) take a newspaper, 2) take a pair of scissors, 3) choose an article – Brouwer chose the reports, 4) cut out the article, 5) then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag, 6) shake it gently, 7) then take out the scraps one after the other in order in which they left the bag, and 8) copy conscientiously. Brouwer "cut out" sentences instead of words, and probably didn’t shake them in a bag, but the effect is similar.

“A journalist sinking

into the mud was told to toss his camera

to a colleague and hold extremely still. In this

sense, we are our own prisoners.”

Three phrases appear twice throughout the poem: “questions remain,” “care should be taken,” and the central theme of “the death drive,” which appears in the conclusion. Death drive is a term from classical Freudian psychology, and it means the drive towards self-destruction through risky behaviors, like sexual promiscuity. The first time Brouwer mentions this, it is somewhat enveloped in sexual imagery.

“Cleanup crews recover thousands

of plastic milk jugs from the shallows. Do these

images appeal to the death drive?”

The visual of numerous empty plastic milk jugs invokes the idea of waste, but can also imply by-products of sexuality when placed in front of a question regarding the death drive. The milk jugs can symbolize used condoms, which can be found in secluded beach areas, and milk itself can symbolize semen. Indeed, Brouwer ends the poem with an image of penetration.

“If the committee may offer an analogy, the death

drive resides at wholly dark depths of imagination

and fuel issues from a wound we’ve opened here.”

            Brouwer links oil drilling to sexual promiscuity through his analytical caricature of the BP Oil Spill. Promiscuity raises the chances of unsafe sex, and contracting a deadly virus, while oil drilling poses the risk of a catastrophe that can affect the entire globe.

            The Dada movement started in Zurich just over one hundred years ago in 1916 as a response to the horrors of the first World War.  Its mix of humor, satire, and avant-garde brought a new depth to artistic expression. Elements of Dadaism are still influential today, and can be found in various mediums, from the 2016 Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue of Being Ignorant), to Lady GaGa’s performance at the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, and Brouwer’s poem.