Jackson Mac Low (September 12, 1922 - December 8, 2004) was an American poet, performance artist, composer and playwright, known to most readers of poetry as a practioneer of systematic chance operations and other non-intentional compositional methods in his work, which Mac Low first experienced in the musical work of John Cage, Earle Brown, and Christian Wolff.

Mac Low won the 1999 Wallace Stevens award.

He received his associate's degree from the University of Chicago in 1943 and his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1953.

Mac Low played composer Pauline Oliveros, as part of her Theater of Substitution series (1975-?), at the New York Philharmonic's "A Celebration of Women composers" concert on November 10, 1975 and Oliveros has played MacLow (see Jackson's "being Pauline narrative of a substitution", Big Deal, Fall 1976). (Von Gunden, p.141)

From "Insect Assassins"

Injects no survive. Efforts control the
Animal survive. Survive. Animal survive. Survive. Injects no survive.

In nasty spitting eye cost. This
Assassin spitting spitting assassin spitting spitting in nasty spitting

Insectivorous nutriment species encounter Charles to
Are species species are species species insectivorous nutriment species

Selected Works

• 22 Light Poems (Black Sparrow, 1968)
• Stanzas for Iris Lezak (Something Else Press, 1971)
• The Pronouns (Station Hill Press, 1979)
• Pieces O' Six: Thirty-Three Poems in Prose (Sun and Moon Classics, 1991)
• Twenties (Segue, January 1992)
• 42 Merzgedichte in memoriam Kurt Schwitters (Station Hill Press, 1994)

Source

• Von Gunden, Heidi (1983). The Music of Pauline Oliveros. ISBN 0810816008.

External links

• Jackson Mac Low website
• Academy of American Poets
• SUNY Buffalo Electronic Poetry Center
• In Remembrance of Jackson Mac Low EOAGH (Issue#2) includes poems and remembrances on-line
• The Register of Jackson Mac Low Papers 1923-1995 @ Mandeville Special Collections Library, University of California, San Diego
• Jackson Mac Low in Virtual Space a remembrance by Barrett Watten, including links to other Mac Low sites

1922 births | 2004 deaths | American poets