Breakfast is moving to Salford.
The giant polar bear will melt
in about five days. The landlord
has a firm, settled intention:
by night he dons all the sequins
and feathers, trawling hotspots,
on patrol. No deposit, ever.
What early trauma ...? Emergency lights:
cowering under a stool in the kitchen.
(Actona Dodgem Bar Stool on chrome base).
Did she fall for a youth who turned into a cad?
The movie will be set in the present day.
Thanks for all the comments ... but thanks to Steven really for the inspiration. I found it great fun to do, and even liberating. There was some sense of ownership, in selecting the phrases and putting them in the order I did. I don't claim any artistic merit for it, although most of those lines on their own could possibly provoke a separate poem. And yes, Steve, it's made me realise there's a whole new world out there, beyond the marshalling yard ...
Loved this nonsense Greg. You can take what you want from it. In some ways with this sort of thing there is too much disparity between the images which bombards the mind. but this is an interesting effect in itself. Win x
What you resist persists.
I enjoyed playing around with the ideas in your workshop, Steven. A great freedom not to have to conform, or con with form.
I would once have said, not my tasse de thé, too. Yet it was like being in the playground again. Who cares what you produce? If you enjoy producing it?
No rhyme against it is there?
That said, I have not shown my efforts on here.
Televison will be revolutionised.
That's why I'll never like it Steven - I like straining for meaning.
Language/poetry, for me, is different to visual art. I like abstract paintings more than still life - find all those fat cherubs and bowls of fruit very tedious - no matter how life like they are. There is often meaning to be had within the abstract though - or the fun of looking for it.
For some reason, I can't find that same pleasure in poetry that says nothing - that has no meaning. Maybe one day I'll attend one of your workshops and you can convert me - but then I'd probably work a message in there somewhere, heavily disguised :))
Isobel - you don't need to read the brief to understand experimental poetry - all you need is to appreciate it the way you might appreciate abstract art - not for what it's saying but the way it says it. Take what you can from it without straining for meaning.
I like this - it has some really interesting phrases in it. I loved the next to the last line - it injects almost an old-fashioned air into the poem, like something from a silent movie. It also sort of says something about the modern media-saturated world.
Not my cup of tea - but then experimental poetry rarely is. Often I think you need to have read the brief to appreciate the result.
Well done you for giving it a go though!
For my liking, these found poems have to be really weird or really funny. I thought this promised to be both for 7 lines but then fizzled out a bit.The giant polar bear is very interesting.
Well I can see it as a fillum. Anything that has a landlord who
"dons all the sequins
and feathers, trawling hotspots"
could command attention.
And Salford gets weirder by the year.
<Deleted User> (9186)
Mon 4th Apr 2011 15:06
Thought I would just drop in and say hello and nice to have met you Greg - I did nt do this exercise but from your explanation you've done well with the material provided
This was produced during Steve Waling's excellent experimental poetry workshop at the WOL weekend at Todmorden. All words and phrases taken from an edition of the Manchester Evening News.
If you wish to post a comment you must login.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
David Cooke
Thu 21st Apr 2011 09:54
Ah, Greg, Don't get me going on poetry workshops! I hate 'em. Did an Arvon week last year because everyone seems to have to do at least one Before they die. I was lucky to come back alive. Didn't seem to have anything to do with real poetry.