[Erik Olson]

I could generate only 5 for Olson and none for Erik so I selected my first and middle name: "Erik Lloyd". For this I got 47 results. So I wrote the following sonnet with each line rhymed and ending with an anagram of Erik Lloyd. Having the end rhymes to be satisfied on top of the other requirements was brutal, and the poem turned out to be likewise. But then the results yielded many words like ill, irk, yell, kill, dork, idler, and so forth.


The Zealous Hunter Chides The Idle Thief

You lazy leech! To eat you suck, drill, yoke
One's fruits. I spear sharks sanguine-dyed, or kill
Gold bears. Ye must be filled with idler yolk;
You need a charm, a magic-key, or dill
To cure thine wimpy sloth, the way ye roll, kid.
Your family's trade worked what? your old ilk? Rye?
Or did they man some sissy dyke? I roll
With spears. Are ye some joke whose droll key I
Can't figure? Don't let true words irk ye, doll.
All day ye watched the deer or elk, idly
Instead of hunting to make dry elk-oil.
The chances ye'll catch game with rod? Likely
As fish will fly. I tame sharks, ye do krill;
As I call spade a spade, so dork I yell!

.

[Tony Barnstone]

Sorry, I put the link to the results for my name. Try the new link that I subbed in on my original post above and it should work. There are 44 anagrams for Drysdale, for example, such as "dread sly"--enjoy!

Best, TB

[Tony Barnstone]

Erik,

A truly insane sonnet, in the best way. Is this neosurrealism of the digital age?

[Erik Olson]

Thanks Tony. I had in mind something like a stone, dark, or brute age; but I think it might be most properly classed a mad age, whatever that means.
As far as technique of the inventio, if you will, I suppose it would be Neosurrealism born of the Digital Age. The digital age influenced not only inventio, but dispositio, and elocutio , since elements of arrangement and expression both were adjusted somewhat according to such anagrams as the computer had furnished me. In short, I agree.
Best, Erik

[Susan Breeding]

Originally Posted by Tony Barnstone

Erik,

A truly insane sonnet, in the best way. Is this neosurrealism of the digital age?

Agree. I have been thinking of this challenge in the spirit of Oulipo, which I believe is still alive and well in Paris with but one American member. Maybe we can consider ourselves Oulipoans for the space of this challenge (although, if this challenge is a membership application, just disregard this message, lol.)

A few years ago I joined an online Oulipo group organized by a friend. At one point four of us took up the challenge of writing a creative work without using the letter "e." I wrote a blank verse sonnet and the others wrote prose. For some reason this challenge feels much more difficult in prospect than that earlier one did as I remember it in retrospect. But that is just the story of my life, hardly surprising.

There was a recent BBC radio show on Oulipo with Paul Fournel himself as a guest. I think the link was only good for 30 days so it's unavailable for listening now. Sorry. Anyway, I looked up some of the Oulipo anagram challenges, and I couldn't find any like yours. Mostly they take a famous quote or saying and write a poem in which each line is an anagram of it; or else they make up a title and use it the same way. Over the years, the Oulipoans have produced some very interesting and intriguing work. I'd love to see some of the people here also try to write a sonnet without using the letter e some time. But we have enough on our poetic plate right now, I think.

Sue

[Pedro Poitevin]

Intriguing, Tony, but hard to do well. I've written three sonnets that substitute rhymes for specular rhymes, three lipogrammatic sonnets (using only the vowel A in one of them, only E in another, and O and E in one final one), as well as one sonnet in English that is a palindrome (several of these in Spanish). But this challenge is tough. I'll try!

Pedro

[Tony Barnstone]

Pedro, It is tough! I'm looking forward to giving it a stab myself. Sometimes these challenges can take you cool places. I did a sonnet once based on "bad usage," mistakes that my students made on papers, and that was fun (it's here online if you want a laugh: http://www.rattle.com/poetry/bad-usa...ony-barnstone/ ). Enjoy, TB

[Ann Drysdale]

Once upon a long time ago I was working in the Department of Medical Statistics at Birmingham University. One of the Readers was preparing a paper on probability theory for the University of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He referred to the projected occurrence of the letter 'e' in written English and, later in the paper, stealthily attempted to summarise some of the findings without using it, to see if anyone would notice. The whole department was in on the exercise, brainstorming the text a phrase at a time.

We began by trying out lines of poetry and in most cases could produce the sense and, now and then, the metre. But one in particular gave us all much grief. "Little Lamb, who made thee?" never got beyond "Woolly child - whodunnit?"
.

[Orwn Acra]

Originally Posted by Susan Breeding

Agree. I have been thinking of this challenge in the spirit of Oulipo, which I believe is still alive and well in Paris with but one American member.

There are two American members now, although there was only one for decades (Harry Mathews). Daniel Levin-Becker is the second and, in his early thirties, the youngest. His Many Subtle Channels is an excellent book on the history of the group.

[Susan Breeding]

Tony, my students made some of those exact same mistakes. That was a fun sonnet to read. After the holidays, I also plan to give your challenge a stab, and it does look as though the fun angel will be the best tact. Lol

Orwn, thank you for the update on Oulipo. Much appreciated!

Ann, "Woolly child -- whodunnit?" ROFL -- I love it! (Oddly enough, my friend's contribution was a paragraph that ended with lambs as martyrs for our wool, unrelated to Blake but having something to do with his character having listened to Tom Waits "Lost in the Harbor" on the car radio. -- Moral: never underestimate the power of the counter-culture for great associations. Righteo.)

Sue