I got carried away on the mindblurb front just now. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, I try to write these things regularly, (used to be once a day, but more often once a week). Usually I just squeeze off a line or phrase that comes immediately to mind. I try hard not to think about them. To empty myself completely and just write whatever words or images end up filling the void. And of course what comes out is definitely a reflection of how I feel or what I’ve been doing all day. But sometimes I surprise even myself!
The point is to increase my randomness factor. I think random links are crucial to good poetry. And by links I mean metaphor and simile to start out with, but also just bridging two or more ideas that wouldn’t have normally found themselves in the same poem (or line, or phrase). I mean, that’s what makes a good metaphor, is pulling in a concept that your audience wouldn’t have necessarily thought of, but somehow just “fits” the idea or concept or situation. And I’m a metaphor guy myself.
[I thought there was maybe a word that meant a poem where the entire thing is just one big metaphorical exploration, but I looked around on google, and I think it’s either just called an “Extended Metaphor Poem”, or there isn’t really a word/phrase for it at all.]
Anyway, after a bunch of random lines (see the “mindblurbs” link in my navigation) I started writing randomly in psudo-verse. Here’s what came out:
PS, lycanthrope is one of my favorite words, but for whatever reason, I seem to always forget what it means. Then I want to use it, so I look it up and remember that it’s a really cool word. This happened just now. Unfortunately, looking it up kind of ended the poetic moment…
=====
brain a slightly erect penile implant,
fingers stretched out into Ethernet,
gun-toting grey-matter-taxidermy
stuffing the proverbial handgun turkey
mouth hanker-yammering
sling-fisted flim-flamming
flaming,
on felt and fellatio patio furniture
sidewalk scope and rain-drip drope
grass is whiter on the other side of the slope
hill of baked farts
eyes going ever-so-slightly lycanthrope
My favorite word lately – viceroy. ;))
ahh, but do you prefer the govenor or the butterfly? See, a word with two distinct and disparate meanings… it’s rife with poetic possibilities! (Rife is another of my favorite words, although there’s no cool double definition.)