Nine Asemic Realizations

by Steve Carll

Asemic Realizations #41 (Psychedelic Rock Concert Poster)

Statement on the Asemic Realizations

I see the Asemic Realizations as a visual extension of my writing, in that they’re concerned with meaningfulness and the interplay between discovering meaning and projecting it. While out exploring my new surroundings in Humboldt County where I’ve lived since 2022, I periodically encounter sights that are natural but appear abstract; random or accidental but apparently patterned. I first encountered the term “asemic” 10 or 15 years ago to refer to phenomena that strongly suggest writing but aren’t, and upon realizing that I was seeing such phenomena, I started seeking them out and documenting them. This ongoing series is the byproduct. I like to imagine that these photographs depict untranslatable poems in some lost or alien language.

Add comment

form.antibot { display: none !important; } You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form.

Steve Carll lives in Arcata, California. Dreaming to a Click, his music-themed poetry collaboration with Chris Stroffolino, is now available from Bathysphere Press. His poems have recently appeared in Blackbox Manifold, Clockwise Cat, and #Ranger, while other visual pieces in the Asemic Realizations series have been published in TYPO, BlazeVOX and #Ranger (again). He can be seen performing his work at https://www.youtube.com/@stevecarll/videos.

Edited by Jonathan Penton at Sun, 02/01/2026 - 10:46pm

Nine Asemic Realizations

by Steve Carll

Statement on the Asemic Realizations

Add comment

Recent Articles: