Experimental poetry from our poetry class! We had to take one of our poems and via arbitrary rules, cut it up into something else. Here's the poem I started with and the rules I chose, and the resulting poem.

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Never project emotion.

They will only mistake
anger for arrogance
tears for weakness

If you show fear
they will strike.

Smile. Smile. Smile.

Shake hands.

Make eye contact.

When they ask 'How are you?'

the answer is only ever 'Fine.'

And you?

Fine.

The car is our vardo, our gypsy
caravan. We speak our words
for cheap bread and expensive
wine. We pray for the ins of
Ginsberg, the knack of Kerouac.
We are a living limited offer, our
infinity bartered for such a short time.

Leigh pushed me through the cellar door

and the cellar stank of roots and earth

floorboards creaked and marked our berth

the light bulb over head burned bare

She closed behind us the cellar door

and we buried our secrets there.

cellar-door is

the most beautiful

word we'll never again say

turn out the light ( Read more... )