Verbatim found poetry is an intriguing collection of found poems. Poems found in ordinary, and not so ordinary places. Submit yours.
fo shizzle ma nizzle
is a bastardization of
fo’ sheezy mah neezy
which is a bastardization of
for sure mah nigga
which is a bastardization of
I concur with you whole heartedly
my African american brother
Definition 3 for ‘fo shizzle ma nizzle’ in the Urban Dictionary.
and I don’t know if
I would have
been able to
had it not been
for the positive influence
that the game had
on me.
Why?
Because
it taught me
to be self-reliant.
It taught me to not
stand around
waiting
for some man to rescue me.
It taught me to always,
always,
check the ceiling
before entering a room.
From the LiveJournal blog of wyrmwwd. By Veronica.
Looks at the ground
So little light left
No wind at all
It has to happen now
Avenue of humanity
Red, clamouring together
What have I done?
From BBC Radio 5 commentary of the final day of the US Augusta Masters golf tournament, 14 April 2013. By Winston Plowes.
So.
The first thing we see
is a plastic trash bag
with some paper chains spilling out.
A man
in a green t-shirt grabs it and deposits it
in a dumpster.
A boy
on a bike watches him.
A man uproots
some plants in a greenhouse
and harvests the squiggling maggot-y worms in the potting soil.
He puts a couple of them into medicinal capsules. Mirrors figure
conspicuously.
Later
something happens to Kris.
The man
puts her under a spell. She sees, tastes, feels
and does whatever he tells her to, but she can’t
look at him because he says
his head is made of the same substance as the sun.
Her mind records
entire conversations, and the complete text
of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.
Another man collects, records
and plays sounds
and performs synchronous surgery on Kris
and a pig, apparently transferring a parasite
from one to the other, establishing
an indefinable psychic link
between them.
Kris encounters Jeff
on a train.
They connect. Their thoughts
get mixed up, which is to say that they’re both convinced
that some of their memories have been
appropriated by the other. Their conversations
transpire
in several different places at once, or perhaps
at different times
in the same place.
Or different times at once. Some orchids growing
on tree roots
by the edge of a stream
change color.
More pigs occur.
Some association
is evinced between them, Kris
and other somnambulists.
Kris is
confused
and afraid.
From a review of the film Upstream Colour on RogerEbert.com. By Wesley Brown.
This is how Americans live today
drinking coffee made from snow
and living in tents and
buying guns to kill each other
especially children
some people complain about the guns
These trees are full of snow
You’ll see there are no birds
they’ve been eaten by the people
who live in these tents and corridors
this man awaits heroin
their houses blow down very easily
and they have to live in tents like these
Again, there are no birds in the trees
apart from these
which will be eaten on Tuesday
they are yummy
You can also eat the snow
of which there is plenty
These people lie huddled together
with their dead friends in blue body bags
drinking coffee-cups full of local snow
They are very good friends
They are together in adversity
In other parts of America
often disguised as foreign countries in Europe
people live the same terrible life
This man, a former Republican candidate for Oregon
is now having to get coffee made of snow
from these trucks
Many Americans have to live like this daily
and are entitled to one cup most days
The weather is freezing
but the hot snow tastes nice
They enjoy it immensely
Meanwhile in the major offices
factories and railway stations
people sit around
under expensive adverts for Dell computers
drinking snow from plastic cups
People pass by, not caring
for they are all in the same situation
These telephones no longer work
There is no one to call
This is how they live in modern day America
Huddled together – the poor, the cold, the lonely
and the homosexual
Mean time these people queued up for handouts
from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
and were each given a cake.
Taken from a North Korean propaganda film. By Grace Andreacchi.
I have a vision of the universe
– because nobody can find the end of it –
as stuffed in a glass jar
on someone’s desk,
maybe God’s desk
but a desk, anyway.
I think the white noise on TV
is the leftover noise
from the Big Bang.
Overheard at Macclesfield station, March 2013. By Ailsa Holland.
And finally the storm recedes.
Insects begin to stridulate,
just a few at first — then in their thousands
and countless exotic birds
starting to call out to one another,
their cries reverberating
as if in a giant cathedral.
From BBC Radio 4’s Noise: A Human History, episode 3. By Stevie Ronnie.
Sometimes I eat that ‘plastic’ ham or cheese singles.
I’ve also read some really (so-called) trashy books.
I have a fondness for Harry Styles and quite like Cheryl Cole.
I must be pretty thick and uneducated,
or so it would seem, despite the fact that
I often eat in ‘high-end’ restaurants,
read (so-called) literary fiction
and regularly go to the theatre.
I don’t want to read 50 Shades,
but don’t give a monkey’s poop who else reads it.
Read what you like I say, just accept that maybe
I don’t want to read it. I have no interest
in reading Austen, Trollope, Eliot or Dickens either –
so my disinterest crosses many boundaries!
As yet, I have not watched Gogglebox,
but I expect that if I do, I may be hooked.
My cranberry sauce usually comes from B&M.
I have cider in the salad drawer,
and I also like my red wine cold – yes, cold –
and usually the bottle has a screw top!
There are loads of books that I don’t want to read,
things that I don’t want to watch
and places that I don’t want to eat in.
However, lots of people do – and surely that’s fine?
I like my life, my food and my books to be diverse.
Text from a friend’s facebook status, and from her responses to other people’s comments on it. By Angi Holden.
Eastern Hemlock
The leaves fall upon drying.
A poor Christmas tree.
Poor quality of wood.
Stonelike hardness of the knots
will chip steel blades.
Lumber taken for pulp.
Useful for railroad ties.
Holds spikes exceptionally well.
Bark rich in tannin.
A tea was once made from leaves
and twigs by woodsmen and Indians.
As fuel, the wood throws sparks.
Japanese Honeysuckle
Fruits eaten
by birds and mammals
and the dense cover
is much used,
but generally speaking
it is a weed.
Smooth Blackhaw
Fruits eaten
by foxes,
bobwhites,
and several
songbirds.
Some people
also like them
Bullbrier Greenbrier
Some twigs
may be
without
prickles.
From George A. Petrides, A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs (1973). By J. R. Solonche.
We ought to be reading
poetry too
of course
and nonfiction
We should read
instruction manuals
legal documents
restaurant reviews and corporate newsletters
We should follow weird people
on Twitter
and go to lots of parties
and have lots of intense
and ridiculous
conversations with drunk people
We should go
home for the holidays
and argue with our families
and we ought to
listen
to lots of music
and we ought to watch
plenty of television
We should eavesdrop
and we should gossip
We should probably be in therapy
We should probably drink
more coffee.
From Most contemporary literary fiction is terrible. By Wesley Brown.
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