OULIPOST HALFTIME REPORT

I've had to take a break from Ouliposting but hopefully I'll be back in the game again soon. In the meantime, The Found Poetry Review has compiled a "halftime report" of the Oulipost Project. Thank you to Doug Luman for the shout-out. Check out all the cool work that everyone's been doing!

Read the OULIPOST HALFTIME REPORT here.

OULIPOST #11: UNIVOCALISM

(Image credit: http://jakndaxta.deviantart.com/art/Starry-YOLO-346735549)

YOLO

Work strong

to rock world.

For our world

too short.

Sources: Front page of The Montreal Gazette. 11th April, 2014.
Kennedy, Mark. "'This comes as an unexpected shock':PM from The Montreal Gazette. 11th April, 2014. A8 section.

Method: A univocalic text is one written with a single vowel. It is consequently a lipogram in all the other vowels. If he had been univocally minded, Hamlet might have exclaimed, “Be? Never be? Perplexed quest: seek the secret!” All words used must be sourced from your newspaper. Read more poems from the comments section here.

The vowel I chose was 'o'.

OULIPOST #10: SNOWBALL

I, Alien

I.
We.
One.
Wait.
Years.

O,
It
Was
Hard,
Human.

O!
It,
Bug
Flaw
Stark
Unseen
Dangers
Security
Penetrate
Impossible.

Source: Manjoo, Farhad. "In rush to innovate, web left exposed" from The Montreal Gazette. 10th April, 2014. A3 section.
Method: This procedure requires the first word of a text to have only one letter, the second two, the third three, and so on as far as resourcefulness and inspiration allow. The first word of a snowball is normally a vowel: in English, a I or O.
From your newspaper, select a starting vowel and then continue adding words of increasing length from the same source article or passage. Challenge yourself further by only using words in order as you encounter them in the text. Read more "snowball" poems in the comments section here.

I channeled X-Files for this one. I miss Mulder and Scully...

OULIPOST #9: HEADLINES

virus threatens pork production
new U.S. ambassador feels heat

diplomat expulsions raise some eyebrows
universities unsure what future holds

tight-lipped
tough talk

battle for control in larger cities
a century of conflict

breaking down the issues
zeroing in on Canada's zombie safety zones

solutions made for a changing world
solutions at hand to level the playing field

with divisive politics defeated,
let hope reign

hog heaven

Source: Headlines from The Montreal Gazette. 9th April, 2014.
Method: Compose a poem whose body is sourced from article headlines in your newspaper. Read more "headline" poems in the comments section here.

I imaged this poem as the synopsis for a zombie flick set in the Great White North with product placements by the pork industry, um, for some reason. And yes, "Zeroing in on Canada's Zombie Safety Zones" is a real headline.

OULIPOST #8: BEAUTIFUL INLAW (BEAU PRESENT)

I ram 

I arm 

I ism

Or

I aim

I soar

I am 

So 

I roam

I om

I am

Sources: Front page of The Montreal Gazette. 8th April, 2014.

I also used the Scrabble Word Finder to find my words.

Method: Select a name from one of your newspaper articles, famous or not. Compose a poem using only words that can be made from the letters in that person’s name. For example, if you selected “John Travolta,” you may only use words that can be made from the letters A, J, H, L, N, O, R, T and V. Read more "beau present" poems in the comments section here.

For my "beau present" poem, the name I chose was Marois, as in Pauline Marois, the newly ousted former premier of Quebec, giving me access to the letters: M, A, R, O, I, and S. 

OULIPOST #7: N+7

For 33 deadbeats,
the electron camshaft

was dominated by pollutions,
pronounciations and polymaths.

Now, it is up to us
to castor our bananas.

No matter which passion you support,
make your volley heard on jabs that countermand.

Sources: Words found on front page of The Montreal Gazette. 7th April, 2014.
I also found my nouns using the N+7 generator here.
Method: Select a passage from one of your newspaper articles. Replace each noun in the passage with the seventh noun following it in the dictionary. Read more "N+7" poems in the comments section here.

Proud to have voted and to be a Quebecer on this historic day.

OULIPOST #6: BLANK VERSE AMIDST THE PROSE

The Politician

The road ahead won't be an easy one.
Opponents concentrated their efforts.

In the final moments of a campaign
that saw him catch his share of lucky breaks,

and took to the sky for one final blitz.
People packed into the tiny building.

"I know you don't want us to just come here.
Bring back the dignity that comes with jobs."

He has a good feeling about his chance...

Source: Curtis, Christopher. "Liberals blitz regions one last time" from The Montreal Gazette online. 6th April, 2014. Read the article here.
Method: Compose a poem using unintentional lines of iambic pentameter found in your newspaper. Read more "blank verse" poems in the comments section here.

Ok. This poem was a little late but better late than never.

OULIPOST #5: TAUTOGRAM

Image credit: (http://www.westislandchronicle.com/Community/2014-04-02/article-3674439/West-Island-candidates-talk-issues/1)

Reporters ride

recent rising 

rivals' rhetoric.

Recruit real.

Represent reason.

Run rare.

Respect rights.

Recover. Return.

Recognize relief.

*

Go out and vote on Monday, Quebec.

Sources: 

"R'" words found only from the front page of The Montreal Gazette. 5th April, 2014. A1 section.

Freed, Josh. "I want a Quebec where 'nous' again means all of us" from The Montreal Gazette. 5th April, 2014. A2 section. Online version here.

Authier, Philip. "Hot Swing Ridings" from The Montreal Gazette. 5th April, 2014. A4 section. Online version here.

Method: Tautogram. Compose a poem whose words — or at least the principal ones — all begin with the same letter. The words must be sourced from your newspaper. Read more "tautogram" poems in the comments section here.

OULIPOST #4: FIBONACCI (VARIATION)

Photo credit: (https://www.flickr.com/photos/picklemonger/238938393/)

As

As they

wove

gridlocked

buses

Montreal

* 

I could have kept going with this "Fibonacci sequence poem" but it started to look like gibberish after word #13. This poem actually captured how I've been feeling about this city's seemingly never-ending winter. Also, today would have been my father's 70th birthday (April 4, 1944), so it was easy to know which page number I would choose to use as a source: 4. It was his lucky number...

Source: Solyom, Catherine. "Students flex protest muscles once again" from The Montreal Gazette. 4th April, 2014: A4 section. Online version here.

Method: In a Fibonacci sequence, each term is the sum of the two terms immediately preceding it; typically with 1 as the first term: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on. Select an article from your newspaper and create a poem using the words that correspond with the numbers in the sequence. Read more "Fibonacci" poems in the comments section here.

OULIPOST #3: DEFINITIONAL LIT

You can’t take a certain course
or follow a certain procedure
in the sport or business of catching fish
without something or someone
to put a piece of food
on (a hook) or in (a trap)
in order to attract and catch fish or animals.

One attached to another
by affection or esteem
could seem to be
in a position that prevents
someone from moving
or making progress
in the way of your
most recent intense,
driving, or overmastering
feeling or conviction.

*
This "definitional lit" prompt is based from the following phrases: "You can't go fishing without bait. Friends could seem to stand in the way of your latest passion." I thought the juxtaposition was kinda funny.

Sources: Horoscopes - Leo (July 23-August 22). The Montreal Gazette. 3rd April, 2013. B8 section.
www.merriam-webster.com
Method: Select a single sentence from a newspaper article. Replace each meaningful word in the text [verb, noun, adjective, adverb] by its dictionary definition. Repeat this treatment on the resulting sentence, and so on, until you’ve had enough! Read more "definitional lit" poems in the comments section here.

OULIPOST #2: LIPOGRAM WITHOUT LETTERS IN "THE GAZETTE", USING ONLY WORDS FROM TODAY'S FRONT PAGE

Look.

Opinion polls find

win is wild.

Low blip.

Loss.

Drop in PQ.

Kind of works.

*

I wrote the above poem with the upcoming general election in Quebec in mind. For those of my readers that need some context, the PQ stands for Parti Québécois. They're the current government in power. They're not doing so hot...

Source: Only the front page of The Montreal Gazette. 2nd April, 2014. A1 section.

Method: Lipogram (Newspaper Titles). A lipogram is a text that excludes one or more letters of the alphabet. The ingenuity demanded by the restriction varies in proportion to the frequency of the letter or letters excluded. For this initial exercise, you will compose a poem using only words that can be formed from letters that are NOT found in the title of your newspaper. For example, if you are working with the Washington Post, you must avoid using words that contain the letters A, G, H, I, N, O, P, S, T and W. Read more "lipograms" in the comments section here.

OULIPOST #1: STAR-CROSSED

It's not
a comfortable
discussion.

I need to know your story.

What unites
is stronger than
what divides us.

We are all.

We need to understand.
It's hard.
Build a solid identity.

Two nations in one.

It was the authorities.
I am.
We are all.

Source: Montgomery, Sue. "Love Beyond the Scars" from The Montreal Gazette. 1st April, 2014: A2 section. Online version here.
Method: Quote Cento. Create a cento using only quotes referenced in newspaper articles. Read more "quote centos" here.

Oulipost 2014. It's coming...

Calvino is my homeboy. 

National Poetry Month and Oulipost 2014 is coming... 

Official 2014 Ouliposter

National Poetry Month is less than a month away and this year I'm excited to announce that I'll be participating in The Found Poetry Review's Oulipost project. I had so much fun challenging myself to write a poem-a-day last year with their Pulitzer Remix Project, that I've come back for more!

Ouli-what?  
Oulipo - Ouvroir de littérature potentielle (or "workshop of potential literature") is a group of mostly French-speaking writers and mathematicians that seek to create works using constrained writing techniques. 

So FPR has enlisted me along with a whole army of poets (82!) from around the globe to participate. That means starting on April 1st, Ouliposters will be writing a poem-a-day for the whole month of April based on a daily Oulipo-inspired prompt and using their daily local newspaper as a source text.

Be sure to follow Oulipost on twitter at #oulipost

Here's a brief interview with me about the Oulipost project:

1. What excites you about Oulipost?

Being forced to write a new poem every day.

2. What, if anything scares you about Oulipost?

Being forced to write a new poem every day. Ha!

3. Have you written experimental or found poetry before?

Yes! I sometimes incorporate Facebook and Twitter newsfeed lines I find into my poems. I also love to create and teach my students erasure poems using only a sharpie and a newspaper like Austin Kleon's newspaper blackout poems. You can read an interview I did about last year's Pulitzer Remix project with Cult MTL here.

4. What newspaper will serve as your source text?

The Montreal Gazette.

5. Who's your spirit Oulipian?

Italo Calvino is my homeboy. Have you ever read Invisible Cities? It exploded my brain. In it, Marco Polo describes the different cities he's encountered in his travels to Emperor Kublai Khan and each "city" is more magical than the last. I totally make reference to it in my first book, The Emperor's Sofa, and I have a poem from Marco Polo's point-of-view in my forthcoming book, Rabbit Punch! Sorry for the cheap plug but Invisible Cities means that much to me.

I'm also partial to Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style, and Georges Perec's La Dispararition (literally translated "The Disappearance"), which is a novel composed completely without the letter 'e'.

Read Oulipo, people. They're really fun.

Pulitzer Remix Recap

Sigh. I'm going through "remixing" withdrawal. After writing every day, it feels weird not to have a daily writing deadline for the Pulitzer Remix. 

I've worked on erasure poems/found poems before but this was the first time I spent such an extended period of time working on a project like this. It was an amazing experience! Thanks to Jenni B. Baker for the opportunity to be a part of this innovative project and welcoming writing community.

I was one of 85 poets who wrote an original found poem a day for the month of April using words from Pulitzer Prize winning works of fiction. The Pulitzer Remix was sponsored by the Found Poetry Review.

The website will soon disappear, so please check out the thousands of poems while you still can.

To read all 30 of my poems, please click HERE.

Thanks for reading.

G

Interview with CULT MTL

We're already past the halfway point for the Pulitzer Remix project and National Poetry Month. I can't believe I've been keeping up with posting poem a day. Okay, okay, so I'm behind on today's poem but that'll be remedied soon. Poet's promise...

CULT MTL, Montreal's English-language arts, culture and news website & monthly print publication (which took over the void left by the departure of The Hour and The Mirror) kindly did an interview with me about the Pulitzer Remix.

Please check out the interview HERE.

Thank you, Rachel Levine

G

Pulitzer Remix for National Poetry Month

For National Poetry Month, I will be writing/remixing poems based on the 1944 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction - Martin Flavin's Journey in the Dark - every day for the month of April. Stay tuned for my poems...

Please check out:

1) An interview with me about the Pulitzer Remix project HERE.

2) The Pulitzer Remix website HERE.

3) The Pulitzer Remix project press release HERE.

4) An interview with Pulitzer Remix and The Found Poetry Review founder, Jenni B. Baker HERE.

Happy National Poetry Month!

G

10 Myths About Poets - David McGimpsey

Not all poets are introverted. They aren't always thinking away at some clever line they can't actually speak of. Poets are just alone because of their poor life choices. So, when you see a poet, don't think of some wild bard whose pent-up verbal hurricanes may suddenly destroy your world, think more of a sad kid holding the scrap of a recently punctured balloon.

David McGimpsey, arguably Canada's most irreverent poet, speaks to the CBC for National Poetry Month and dispels some myths about poets.

Please check it out HERE.

G

Brock Lesner and National Poetry Month. Together at Last.

Former UFC champ Brock Lesner has returned to the WWE.

Celebrate this news and NaPoMo with Finishing Hammers: Mixed Martial Arts Poetry which was published and compiled by O Sweet Flowery Roses.

That's right. I wrote a Lesner poem.

Please check it out along with other writing about MMA HERE.

Here comes the pain!

G

National Poetry Month Roundup of Stuff

Hey, so NaPoMo is upon us. Time to poesy, people!

Don't know where to begin? Here's some verse-y goodness to start you off:

1) Michael Hessel-Mial has taken the editorial reins of Internet Poetry, originally helmed by Steve Roggenbuck. I know I just mixed up my metaphors. That's OK. That's how I roll. See it HERE.

2) Ana C has written up a new pdf called Mostly Font Size 48. It is mostly set in font size 48. Please check it out HERE.

3) Pop Serial 3 edited by Stephen Tully Dierks is now online. There are poems in it by rad people. I have met one of those people IRL. Can you guess who? Take a gander HERE.

4) I have been reading the poetry subs for the spring issue of carte blanche. I read through A LOT of poetry. I am surprised I am not all poemed out. I guess that's a good thing. Still gotta make some tough decisions with my co-editor. To whet your appetite for the as-of-yet-not-completed issue, please check out carte blanche's special print-on-demand and digital copy of our latest issue HERE. Or if you haven't already, read the online issue HERE.

5) 30 poets are gonna take over The Academy of American Poets Tumblr for the month of April. Aw yeah. Keep on checking their Tumblr site HERE.

OK, that's all for now.Thanks for reading and may the verse be with you.

Yours forevs,

G