June 2013 will see the publication of Yoko Ono’s sequel to her 1964 book Grapefruit, dubbed at the time by art critic David Bourdonas “one of the monuments of conceptual art of the early 1960s.”
Her sequel, Acorn, is described by Ono herself to be “poetry in action with participation” – a form of “instructional poetry” extending and developing ideas prevalent in Grapefruit, her “book of instructions and drawings.”
Grapefruit contains 150 instructional works of poetry, almost all in English and divided into five sections: Music, Event, Object, Poetry and Painting. Some poems are in dedication to certain people, including John Cage and Isamu Noguchi.
Acorn follows suit in instructional poetry as shown in “Line Talk”, one of the poems in the book, in which Ono offers options for what “a line is: a) a sick circle, b) an unfolded word, c) an aggressive dot, d) what you want to erase or e) what you regret after you dish it out.” Short, simple and at times surprisingly thought-provoking, Ono’s quirky poems are accessible and witty whilst offering some sound life advice to her readers, encouraging them to pay close attention to the world around them and to “Walk from where you live to where your friend lives. Be aware of the turns and the views while you walk.”
Ono considered utilising the forty-nine year gap between the two publications advantageously since she originally intended for Acorn to be an online-only publication, consisting of 100 “instructional” poems published daily over a period of time. However, she spoke of her delight that Acorn will be printed, stating “I’m riding a time machine that’s going back to the old ways!”
The publication of Acorn may come as a surprise to some since a planned sequel is mentioned in Grapefruit. Grapefruit II was planned to be released in 1966 and would have contained 150 new pieces; however, this never materialized and Ono decided to make Acorn the official sequel instead. The book will be published by small-scale publishing house OR Books. OR Books will officially release Acorn in June.