OULIPOST #7: N+7

The prompt:
You’ll want a dictionary for this one! Select a passage from one of your newspaper articles. Replace each noun in the passage with the seventh noun following it in the dictionary. A hard-copy dictionary will make the exercise more varied and fun; however, you can also use the online N+7 generator to create your text.

The process:

Firstly, I used the dictionary pictured above. It's huge and contains waaaay too many derivatives of words and places so most of the nouns I used are "friends" of the noun because their entries were 7 spots down. This was such a huge let down. I hoped for a funny coy poem. It's more odd than funny. It's not what I hoped for and I am disappointed.

The article I chose was about nesting ravens. I thought..hmmph...this is odd...here we go. I am not free with the constraints because my poetry boots are still just getting wet.

The result:

Raven's Ravine

The latest realm showboat set phrase in Greater Boston rocker
Is not about single parents with drinking proceedings.
Women’s lib with boyfriend proceedings, or
Southeaster family names with environs proceedings

Its foetus is a hard-working  young coup stick with a
Cozy net asset value and planets
To start a family name

Over the past three-mile limit, though,  ravines
Have become populous
Across North Carolina and expanded
Their net assets into
Increasingly urban disunion,

He said.

Sources
Fox, Jeremy C. "Keeping up with the ravens." The Boston Globe.  7 Apr 2014, B1-B3. 

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.

Oulipost #5: TAUTOGRAM

The prompt:

Compose a poem whose words — or at least the principal ones — all begin with the same letter. The words must be sourced from your newspaper.

My process:
Well, I've been using an actual newspaper (object) to write my poems but since it's the weekend and I don't have someone dropping off a real paper on my desk. I had to go digital and I refuse to spend the $.99 for 4 weeks and then $4 every week after. I am stubborn. I'd rather walk to get the paper, which I will do tomorrow. Today, I used the digital version and I finally used the Arts section! These articles were short but had enough guts to give me some great words. I chose R because I saw a fun word and went with it.

The result:

Ripe

Revolutionary Rome
Radicalized

Red room
Resonates

Romantic rose
Ranges

Reporters resume
Reporting

Roles return….

Sources:

Gilbert, Matthew. "Nothing revolutionary about AMC’s ‘Turn’." The Boston Globe, 5 Apr 2014. Arts Section. 

Rodman, Sarah. "Judge brings Silicon resume to new TV show."The Boston Globe, 5 Apr 2014. Arts Section.

OULIPOST #4: FIBONACCI (VARIATION)

The prompt:

In a Fibonacci sequence, each term is the sum of the two terms immediately preceding it; typically with 1 as the first term: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on.
Select an article from your newspaper and create a poem using the words that correspond with the numbers in the sequence. Your poem will take the form of first word, first word, second word, third word, fifth word, eighth word, thirteenth word, etc. You can continue until you’ve run out of words in your article or until you’re happy with the poem’s conclusion.

I chose a long article and I counted and counted and counted some more and I know I messed but I got up to word 610.

The result:

Politics

Only, Only

The state

different

The miles

A senate

Female

Democrat

Faced

State

Running

Often

Source: O'Sullivan. "For Scott Brown, a possible third test against a woman." The Boston Globe. 4 Apr 2014, A1-A8.

OULIPOST #3: DEFINITIONAL LIT

The prompt:

Select a single sentence from a newspaper article. Replace each meaningful word in the text [verb, noun, adjective, adverb] by its dictionary definition. Repeat this treatment on the resulting sentence, and so on, until you’ve had enough! Note that after only two such treatments with a relatively compact dictionary, even a two-word sentence can produce an accumulation of 57 words.

*Note: I've seen all these gorgeous blogs and websites with images..I felt jealous. I am web designer by day but can't bring myself to do it at all at night.

When I read this prompt, I got nervous. I thought how the heck will I do this. I then realized..I can stop when I want to. I stopped after finishing the third lines third verb. I felt it wrote and completed itself. I did remove some "a's", "to's" and cut off longer definitions. I am not too sure of this piece but it is something and I am writing again so yippee!!!


Now, I found one of the most ridiculous sentences I've ever read on the front page of a newspaper. It was probably the first that I read today and I couldn't stop laughing.....

"It had all the appearances of a serendipitous selfie."


To possess
The whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing
The way that someone or something looks
Occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way
A photograph that one has taken of oneself,

Have as belonging to one,
All of, entire
The amount or number of a material or immaterial thing not usually estimated by spatial measurement,
the area covered by something
Used to single out an individual member of a specified group or class

A number of people or things that are located close together or are considered or classed together
An object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to,
a method, style, or manner of doing something
Unknown or unspecified person
direct one's gaze toward someone or something
Happen,
Find
A possibility of something happening

Source: Farrell, Michael B. "White House selfie furnishes a closeup of the marketing world." The Boston Globe, 3 Apr 2014.

OULIPOST #2: LIPOGRAM (NEWSPAPER TITLES)

A lipogram is a text that excludes one or more letters of the alphabet. The ingenuity demanded by the restriction varies in proportion to the frequency of the letter or letters excluded. For this initial exercise, you will compose a poem using only words that can be formed from letters that are NOT found in the title of your newspaper. For example, if you are working with the Washington Post, you must avoid using words that contain the letters A, G, H, I, N, O, P, S, T and W.


Well, today I did not hit the jackpot when it comes to newspaper titles. All the good letters live inside The Boston Globe. This was difficult but I survived.

Quirk

I park car
Pay away fraud
Firm wick
Draw
May day...
Kid
3, 2, 1....


Sources: Various The Boston Globe Articles from Sections A and B, April 2, 2014.

Official Oulipost #1: Quote Cento

Prompt

Oulipost #1: Quote Cento

When composing a cento, poets take lines from existing poems (traditionally without any alterations) and patch them together to form a new poem. Today, create a cento using only quotes referenced in newspaper articles. For example, if a newspaper article contained the line “It was a tragedy,” commented Detective Smith, the line, “It was a tragedy,” would be available for you to use in your poem. While you can’t change anything within the quotes themselves, you may choose to break a longer quote in half or use just part of a quote as needed.

Variations:

• Purist? Challenge yourself to write your cento using only complete quotes (sentences) as they appear in your articles.
• Add an additional constraint by challenging yourself to use only quotes sourced from a single article, single newspaper page or single newspaper section.

Here is my stab at it. I actually enjoy this poem a great deal. I think it came out well for a first try. Now my MLA sourcing..yikes! Totally not alphabetized. That's an F++.

Beloved Vigilante

The weight of the evidence warrants

This dangerous armed felon clearly

Not moving as fast

People are still angry

You could not find someone more respected and beloved

For me it’s a walk down memory lane

I thought to myself, maybe I shouldn’t

I really wasn’t thinking

I didn’t really realize anything

I couldn’t believe how
 a consummate academic and collaborative pillar

Didn’t intimidate me

Fearing for his life

I backed off

I think we all have to take a deep breath and give him some time

I want to keep it going

Sources:

Wallack, Todd. "Academy faults its former president." The Boston Globe 1 Apr. 2014: A1-A11.

Leung, Shirley; Casey Ross. "Unease over go-slow BRA."  The Boston Globe 1 Apr. 2014: A1-A11.

Kahn, Joseph P. "With echoes of '91, Anita Hill back in spotlight." The Boston Globe 1 Apr. 2014: A1-A14.

Andersen, Travis; David Filipov. "Shots fly, cars swiped, crashed in long chase." The Boston Globe 1 Apr. 2014: A1-A7.