Contrary to Asia and the East, Europe and the West are rather negative themes in the work of Velimir Khlebnikov. For instance, Khlebnikovʼs anti-German position becomes apparent in the frequently elaborated opposition slavʼ/nemʼ; in his language experiments Khlebnikov avoided non-Slavic words. However, apart from being a poet, Khlebnikov had a rationalistic, scientific point of view, and for that reason could not and would not always avoid western words, nor deny the leading role of the West in scientific progress. One cannot call Khlebnikov simply anti-western, as he also integrates the West in his Khlebnikovian poetics.