random

Not Totally Random

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / 1 Comment

Today’s Prompt is to make a poem titled “__(Blank)__ Again.” This month, I haven’t worked particularly hard at pushing myself outside my poetic comfort zone. Today, I generated a collection of random words on the internet and told myself I had to use a certain number of them in a poem.

The Plot Oozes Again

Does it matter if these words come
from a random spouter of words
on the internet, or if they derive from
some capricious fountain in my head?

Or perhaps I’ll choose every fifth word
from our clumsy correspondence.
There, for instance, I had to strew
a sneaky adjective among my thoughts.
It modifies my meaning, subdues my ideas,
and severs my intentions. Perfect poetry,
the obfuscation (my word) of sense.

Which of these words are mine?
Which are yours? And which,
when we consider the luxuriant input
of the internet, are the fantastic tickets
of the random realm? The plot oozes,
the smoggy street is cloistered in cobweb,
and something has gone, chortling, off the rails.

11 Borrowed Words: Poetry Prompt for Monday

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

I love to pull order out of seeming randomness.  It harnesses the magical energy of word-work.  Last year, I was given the prompt to write a poem using five random song titles.  I went to my CD shelves, closed my eyes and chose 5 CDs.  Then I stacked them up, chose the first song from the first CD, the second from the second, and so on.  The randomness of the resulting poem pulled me out of my tendency to sermonize and dogmatize.

For Monday’s poem, I think I’ll base my Randomness Rules on the date.  I’ll choose a book at hand, open to the 13th page (for the year).  For March, I’ll scan down to the 3rd line, and for the day, I’ll choose 11 words, in order beginning somewhere on that line.  (I do offer myself the grace to try a different book, if the first one is unpromising).  Somewhere in my poem I’ll use those 11 words, either as a phrase, or a chant, or even randomly placed–separately–throughout the poem.  I’ll make sure to credit the author of the words I steal.

I’ll post it here on Monday.

Join me?