OULIPOST #28: MELTING SNOWBALL

The prompt:
A text in which each word has one letter less than the preceding one, and the last word only one letter. From your newspaper, select a starting word, and then continue adding words of decreasing length from the same source article or passage. Challenge yourself further by only using words in order as you encounter them in the text.

The process:
I wanted to get creative with this. I thought of real snowball and how it takes a bit for it to start to melt. So the title is 11 letters and then the next 2 lines are 10 and the next to are 9 and then it really starts to melt.  I also tried to abide by the rules and with using the word in the order that I found them. I think I did a pretty good with that part.

Also, it melts...

The result:

Resignation

Technology
Infections
Materials
Decisions
Clumsily
Suffered
Similar
Modern
Chief
Call
Who
To,
I
?


Source:
Borchers, Callum. Nanomedicine could improve surgical implants. The Boston Globe. 28 April 2014. Web.

Several other articles from the homepage of The Boston Globe. 28 April 2014. Web.

OULIPOST #26: BEAUTIFUL OUTLAW (BELLE ABSENTE)

The prompt:

The outlaw in question is the name of the person (or subject) to whom the poem is addressed. Each line of the poem includes all the letters of the alphabet except for the letter appearing in the dedicated name at the position corresponding to that of the line: when writing a poem to Eva, the first line will contain all letters except E, the second all letters except V, and the third all letters except A.

Choose someone mentioned in your newspaper to whom to address your poem. Compose a beautiful outlaw poem following the procedure outlined above and using words sourced from your newspaper text.

The process:

As usual, I picked a short name and a name of a man who was a champion of democracy in Myanmar. I found his name in the Obituaries. I wanted to make this a quality poem for obvious reasons. I enjoyed the process because searching and finding cool words was intellectually stimulating. Plus, I was in a Starbucks for part of the writing process and now I smell like coffee and cookies. It's sexy. 

This took me a long time. I found it difficult to focus on this rainy day. Plus, I was hungry. I changed tenses and played with words a bit but I swear I used just about every article in today's paper. 

The result:

Win Tin

Democracy champion saving subjects from stabilizing pay and questionably picky taxes

Handles sharks, runs a bar, catches grenades, puzzles even more by exes of newly jammed quotes

Quick-fixes vary with him, majority rules, but widely sized gaps appear

Diversify and back common people; a jab; a warning—faxed—quickly—vaporized, how?

Abuses cause vast, flash attacks when more neglected people unjustly freeze next quarter

Quite a bit of love goes through him, you see, with the evil & hazards here: 

Pride

War

Smallpox

Cockfights

But

Truth speaks justice...

Sources:

Several articles from The Boston Globe. 26 April 2014. Sections A-G.Print.

OULIPOST #14: COLUMN INCHES

The prompt:
Refer to the advertising section or the classifieds in your source newspaper. Create a poem by replacing all of the nouns in your chosen ad segment or classified listing with nouns from one article in the same newspaper. You may use multiple ads/classifieds, presented in the order of your choosing.

The process:
My colleague, the nice man who gives me the paper everyday, drew my attention to this very cool ad. 

It has a cute raccoon in it. I was sold. So..I had my ad. Then I saw this wonderful profile on the front page and I exclaimed, "NOUNS!!!." This article contained many nouns but it's a difficult read. It's a profile of the family of the marathon bombings' youngest victim. I had to stop reading it. I could barely get through each line without a tear. Due to this, I got a little creative with the text. I chose which lines I wanted to replace the nouns. I chose the main ad text. Also, I ate a lot of M&M's while writing this and dinner. It was a bit emotional!

It's not perfect..but it's what I could muster.

The result:

Finding the rearview

Family flying refined
1 home only
It’s your quick memory
To save up to 50% off regular base life 
Book by tears, tonight 
No rehabilitation

Save on strength
And
Pain,
Drugs at 
physcialescapes.com

Source:

Abel, Dave. "Finding the Strength: Part 2 of 2." The Boston Globe. 14 Apr 14. A1-A19. Print. 

OULIPOST #6: BLANK VERSE AMIDST THE PROSE

The prompt:

Compose a poem using unintentional lines of iambic pentameter found in your newspaper.

The process:

Well, I just went through all my favorite sections of the paper..Travel, Arts, Ideas and the front page and started skimming and counting. I pulled several quotes from several articles...I may have used a few titles because they were the best pentameter. I read some weird articles too like one on traffic. Wow...


The result:

Portrait of a city in taxi rides

Morning has broken, like the first morning.

Until recently, there was a problem
There was no one to dive into it
But such a technique has been elusive

At the risk of sounding like a dingbatter
A 24-hour city, we are not.

The clump of marsh was still mesmerizing
Last April I returned to the same spot

Echoes of the past rescued from silence
There have been many gains since the genocide.


Several articles from Sections A, K,N,M. The Boston Globe. 6 April 2014. Print.

Powers, Martine. “Portrait of a city in taxi rides." The Boston Globe.  K1-K4. 6 April 2014. Print.

What's Next..?

Over the past 2 years or so, I haven't had my heart or my head in writing. After I graduated grad school and settled into the "real world", I could barely even muster the energy and will to write a sentence. I used to love writing. It was fun. I was sorta good at it. I had ideas, etc. I tried a few times with this blog. The results always seemed misguided, paltry and self indulgent.

So I did not write, I stopped.  In fact, I didn't even want to write. 

So I sit here and ask myself, what's next? Do I write? Do I not write? If I do write, what do I write about?

I am all mixed up.

I need a creative outlet. My job stifles my creative side and it makes me feel like a drone. I do nto want to be a drone. I want to do something great but the fact is...I don't know what.

I need motivation. I need a kick in the pants...I need something...

So for now...I will try to give this writing thing another whirl.

Let's see how it goes...

Creatively Stiffled

I work in a job that does not allow me to use my creativity on a daily basis. I often partake in mindless tasks such as creating databases, meta data and alt tags. My mind often goes dead.

So, I am in a funk. I cannot think of subjects that I want to write about anymore. I haven't written for myself in a long time and I think I used to be pretty good at it. Now, I am mediocre at best.

So I sit her and babble...babble about nothing. I could talk about ballet and how much I enjoy it but that will wane thin after awhile.

How can foster my creativity and let it evolve?? Do I write everyday? Do I take more notice into how people act? Do I tweet and then write about it? Do I go on adventures? Do I take a fiction approach to this? What the crap do I do?

I need help. 

I have been mulling over the idea of adding to my memoir. I may refocus it  but again...I am unsure.

Oh boy....

People say write what you know but I don't know what I know anymore. Do I know fashion?  Sorta. Do I know food? Again..sorta. Do I know people? Hardly. I do know pop culture but again that wanes.

So I guess..this blog will be as unfocused as my life. I will attempt to write but I have the writer's block. 

I need to unblock myself and possibly let myself be as open as I used to be. I used to share almost anything here. I sounded a bit loony, I must say but I think opening myself up will take a bit more work.

For now, I am stuck.