wonder market for monsters

IMPOMPTU #4
with the Found Poetry Review for National Poetry Month
Prompt: WordBlocks
Words have multiple meanings. Meanings have multiple words. I think of wordblocks as a single-word stand-in to express multiple meanings, or an ambiguity of meanings. I use them in my writing all the time, and often generate them as a warm-up exercise before I write.

1. Write a word.
2. Make a list of other words that are related to this word, in meaning or in spelling.
3. Combine these words into one wordblock sharing letters. (See pictures for example)
4. Keep rearranging, adding, or subtracting words until you have a wordblock you like aesthetically both visually, and linguistically. A wordblock rarely looks great on the first try. Wordblocks have vast potential both handwritten, and typeset either digitally or with moveable letterpress type.
5. Your wordblock can stand alone as a one-word poem, or be placed in a sentence. Try stringing multiple word blocks together. The result is a sentence that provides multiple ways to navigate it.

See Examples Given Here

so i made this thing....

Oulipost Warmup

As part of national poetry month, I have been gently coerced into a 30-day writing challenge wherein I'll be provided daily poetry prompts via The Found Poetry Review's Oulipost Project. 

To start the project, I've been asked to answer five questions...

1. What Excites You About Oulipost?
I have not written from prompts for a while and I look forward to the potential these prompts will unlock for me.  I am always looking for inspiration and new ideas to help stretch my poetry muscles.

2. What, If Anything, About Oulipost Scares You?
At first I was nervous about selecting a newspaper source because I do not usually read a daily paper.  Having done a little looking around, I have found a locally sourced news website that I like well enough.
Now I am only nervous about keeping up with the routine of writing a daily poem.  I hope to keep up with everyone else's work too if at all possible.

3. Have You Written Experimental or Found Poetry Before? If So, Tell Us About It.
Yes.  I can think of a few examples where I dabbled in experimental/found poetry, let me show you some...
Apples-to-Apples Poems - I had a few lovely friends over for tea and a game of Apples-to-Apples.  Once the game was over, I used the words each player had acquired to compose a series of couplets.  The bold words are the words that appeared on the cards.
Poems Inspired by Pictures or the The Ekphrasis Project - simply writing a poem inspired by an image.  I am not sure if this counts as experimental or found.
Give a Title, Get a Poem - I do this quite regularly where I ask friends on facebook to suggest a title for a poem, then I write a poem with that title for that person.  It's a fun way to engage others in my writing.
Facebook Status Stolen Poem - This was particularly fun.  For a few days, I went on facebook and stole status updates from friends and turned them into poems without them knowing.  This project got a lot of cool feedback.
the Love Poem Project - I haven't finished this particular project yet (and I started it over two years ago), but I have been "translating" English language poems into English for a while now.  It is my favorite method of transforming poetry into something new.  In fact, a poetry friend and I translated a George Oppen poem over and over again to create a chap book called Origami Shipwreck.

4.  What Newspaper Will Serve As Your Source Text?
CapeCodToday.com and New Scientist when appropriate.

5. Who Is Your Spirit Oulipian?
Raymond Queneau, if only because he is the one I know.  I am beginning to read more about him (and by him).  I look forward to introducing him into my work both as a role model and as a character.