[Chris King]

An idea for amusements: I enjoy creating 'accidental' poetry by conjuring a phrase (i.e. "was soft and cold" from the example below.) The trick is that you Google the whole phrase. (or use your favorite search engine.) From the pages of 'hits' you choose words or a phrase <u>immediately</u> preceding or following your phrase. Use <u>either</u> the preceding words or following words, not both. No making up your own phrase to bridge.

The phrases you find preceding your "search term" need to go before it in your poem in an order of your choice. The words that follow you search term should follow it in your poem. You can trim the end that doesn't abut your search term. I don't let myself change tenses or agreement or punctuation. Avoid others' poems.

Was soft and cold
-----------------

Winter, outside the dark glass beyond the utilitarian interior of the ward
God’s voice
Her voice
His hand
Her skin
The skin of her throat
And i ate so GoOd taste IceCream, it
A light snow was falling, and the air
The glorious evening air
The beach
And let my feet down into the water, and the water

was soft and cold

and dripped of faggotry.
tones that judged and measured and held no mercy
and did not decrease with rest
The hair on my neck shifted under her breath
My feet disappeared under the wet sand as the water level rose.
Her fat reached to caress the bed, soft and warm.
her scent wonderful.
The capers and mayonnaise added flavor.
She waved to him as she walked out the door
...and i liked it.




[This message has been edited by Chris King (edited November 21, 2007).]

[Marion Shore]

Chris,

I tried, I really tried, but I just couldn't keep my phrase where it belonged, and had to put it at the end. So this isn't strictly by the book.

(I'm not exactly clear if you're allowed to use phrases from before AND after your phrase, or just one or the other, in one poem. That's what your instructions seem to say, but your poem has phrases before and after your phrase.)

Anyway, I had fun doing this, even if I broke the rules.


Fallen Angel

Born of the wrong body
high maintenance
trying to redeem her soul
from a lurking evil
final fallout that turned her
just a little psychotic

when I've had a few
the strangeness takes over
I ask questions of the creators
What the f*#k's it got to do with you!?
Basically, I've been told
it's more entertaining for you to listen to me bitch
and snipe about the world than it is
listening to me drone on about my daily happenings
bloody day job

when i finally get home i'm shattered
and just want to curl up with you
a friend
a fallen angel

[FOsen]

Damn, now I know how Charles Wright does it! [had to vary some of the end punctuation, though]

-- Frank

A Lone Grackle

No matter whether I was looking out front or out back,
it seems all I have been feeding in my back yard lately are sparrows, doves, and starlings.
The catkins of birch and alder are also very evident,
I hear them from time to time off in the distance.
A fish ruffling the surface of the pool behind the reef without an invitation,
keeps appearing from nowhere.
There was a sudden drip on both of us, not a cloud in the sky, just
blue jays, cardinals, and starlings.
My spring harbinger arrived.

Then imagine that,
in another tree,

a lone grackle,

that seems to have lost its way to Walmart,
not sure where the chickadees are,
also fighting off the squirrels,
its white eye blazing and its thin black bill open,
sitting a little bit above us in a tree,
scratching around in all the leaves,
breaking the silence,
calls out by making a high sound like a child's metal noisemaker.

How do you hang suet feeders upside down
at the top of a spruce in West Point?
Whatever your celebration, whatever you have planned for today, enjoy yourself.

[FOsen]

Wow, and Bukowski, too . . .

You Fat Hussy

Hurry it up,
Come and get it.
I doubt jesus would ever kiss your ass crack or fucking anyone for that matter
missed the gold volvo creating a bit of road kill. hahaha still laughing about that years on.
Love you,

you fat hussy

xoxoxoxo
yeah your real cool,
get over here.
If she goes into a coma again I'll kill you.

[Chris King]

In the Words of George Bush


if they find someone who is
fighting the U.S. forces right now because,
the bossiness of a political correctness that,
preachers such as Chambers increasingly resonates
-"an author on a book tour,"
“what we say goes,”

in the words of George Bush

the former President
the Second,
or Porky Pig
awesome!
don't cry for me Argentina
the root cause of the current
Americans are
"troubling"
were harbouring the terrorists
the presidency
is in place
today
it is "fatally flawed."
"If you don't like it, change the channel."
"Funny. I did."

[Jerry Glenn Hartwig]

Tater tots and pickled beets
but being souhtern as I am
Diet Coke