five
today i wrote a cut-up poem.
this is my first time doing so, and i think the randomness of the initial text makes the cut-up results a little anticlimactic. in the future i’ll try this with text that is more coherent initially so that the cutting up actually makes things interesting. i don’t know how much i like the outcome, but i like the style in general. i’d like to experiment with cutting up larger pieces of text into bigger chunks. (i didn’t add any words or change any tenses. i think i deleted the word “and” in one place from the resultant stream of words. punctuation was added after rearranging the words.)
original text:
slice and salvage dice and damage the unruly and ravaged manage a price still keeping recommendations stations fill deepening vices dense ocular overload undertow vacation meeting in time for the vacant oration undercarriage misplace hide and startle rattle a face into partial and carnal ornaments second tense carry a code wonderment beckons hence marrying folds first order happenstance the magic machine making lean observations the message i’ve seen god paradise streaming plod dutiful dreaming of certainty exclaim devotion and carnage cumbersome luminous granted and green overthrow underwater dumb drowning and mean
rearranged text:
For the vacant oration:
happenstance, the magic, and
startle. Rattle a face,
carnage cumbersome,
luminous recommendations.
Stations granted and green
overthrow undercarriage,
misplace, hide underwater.
Dumb, drowning: damage
the unruly; and, dreaming
of certainty, exclaim devotion.
Ornaments, second tense
machine making lean and
mean vacation. Meeting in time,
carry a code, wonderment
into partial and carnal
observations. The message
I’ve seen: god, paradise
still keeping, beckons -
hence marrying ravaged.
Manage. A price folds,
first order, slice
and salvage. Dice and
ocular overload, undertow
streaming: plod dutiful
fill deepening vices, dense.