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Another Random Word Poem 4-12-22

Happy National Poetry Month (a bit late ... hey, cut me some slack I've been busy). To celebrate, I'm getting back into creating randoms word poems (I take 6 words from a random word generating website and write a poem using them).  Get in touch and share your efforts with me - I'd love to see them!  

I'm Posting on YouTube Now

I have been thinking about getting back on YouTube for a while now (a friend and I used to have a fledgling lifestyle channel together), but with a more writing/reading-related focus.  Since I am still between homes (sold old place and new one is still not fixed up en ough to move into) I haven't felt able to start back up on YouTube. I figured no one wants to see me and five small noisy dogs cramped into a tiny bedroom (with all but current schoolbooks still in boxes). Not quite the background I would like to present. But then I thought, I could always try recording and posting my real time random word poem writing sessions. They're short, and hopefully/possibly interesting. Now I admit this first video needs to be improved upon greatly when it comes to camerawork. But it's a first attempt, so cut me some slack. I'll work out the kinks as I go.  

6 Random Word Poem 9/12/2020

Words I had to use: apparatus, listen, eye, son, drunk, women. Words I didn't have to use (but did): in.

Blackout Poem 9/10/2020

This came from a NYT piece found HERE , by Michelle Goldberg .

Blackout Poem 8/24/2020

This is from a Washington Post opinion piece by Max Boot , found HERE .

6 Random Word Poem for 7/29/2020

Words I had to use: smoke, picture, perfume, morning, together, broken. Words I didn't have to use (but did): be.

Blackout Poem for 7/27/2020

Today's offering is from an article by Apoorva Mandavilli from the NYT, found HERE .

Blackout Poem for 7/21/2020

I made another blackout poem. This one is based on NYT opinion piece by Jemelle Bouie about what's happening in Portland. The entire article can be found here .

Another O Bheal poem 7/20/2020

Based on the O Bheal 5 words for July 14-21: lace lip steal ice familiar

6 Random Word Poem 7/18/2020

Finished Poem: How I got there:

Blackout Poem for 7/13/2020

My blackout poem for the day, based on a Washington Post article found HERE by Eli Rosenberg

First O Bheal poem in awhile

I used to do this years ago, but just fell out of practice I guess. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to do again.

Blackout Poem for 7/10/2020

My blackout poem for the day, based on a New York Times piece by Michelle Goldberg, found HERE .

Blackout Poem for 7/3/2020

My blackout poem for the day based on a New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof found HERE .

Blackout Poem for 6/29/2020

My blackout poem for the day based on a Washington Post piece by Catherine Rampell found HERE .

Up-cycling Reality for the Sake of Mental Health

Lately, very lately, I have taken to creating blackout poems. I was first introduced to this concept in a university Creative Writing course I took a few years back. Then I was reminded of it by reading Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist (which, for all I know, is where my instructor encountered it in the first place ... who knows, stranger things have happened). For years I've been writing a poem a day based on five to six random words. I'm such a weirdo I find this sort of thing fun. But, in doing the blackout poetry I am discovering something else - a way to process the news (aka reality) which borders on the therapeutic. I normally get something out of writing a poem - obviously - if that weren't the case I wouldn't do it. But what I normally get is something akin to a purge. Taking a news article and covering things up in order to uncover a way to make it about something else, is completely different somehow. Rather than purging something, it's more like

Happy World Poetry Day