Materials: one pair of scissors, plain backing paper, glue, a supply of surplus printed matter - I raided my Council recycling card and paper sack, which was nearly full as I only put it out once a month, (stone - optional).
Preparation: cue some suitable music (Beethoven's 7th works for me), drink a glass of wine, and start cutting out words at random from a selection of magazines, newspapers, brochures, fliers - different fonts, colours, shapes, until you've got a sizeable pile. (How many is enough? You'll know. If you need to cut out more later, do so.)
Process: lay all the words out, again quite randomly, on a broad, flat surface (table-top, rug, floor), drink another glass of wine and just scrutinise them all for a while. Next, summon up the spirits of the muses (ΞΞΏΟΟΞ΅Ο in Greek), Erato in particular (being the goddess of lyric poetry and collage-making), to inspire and direct your selection of a group of words from among the set. Try out various permutations of the selected words until they make a semblance of sense, bringing in additional words from the original set as necessary. When you are satisfied with the sequence, glue the words to the backing paper in the form of your collage poem. Thank the goddess(es), wash your hands, drink another glass of wine and marvel at the result.
Result: I give you Paper, Scissors, Stoned...
Thanks for reading my recycled rubbish, S;-)
28 comments:
Paper, Scissors, Stoned - very clever. That wine mist have been strong! π€£π€£π€£
"Mist" Binty? What do you pour on your cornflakes? (LOL). Actually, I have a confession to make. I couldn't find a glue stick, so I had to improvise with a Neutrogena 'Norwegian Formula' chap-stick.
What is it with the nightingales?
An interesting exercise. There are some great lines in there. You omitted to mention a scanner in your list of materials.π
Inspiring... I am just wondering if perhaps chocolate could be substituted for at least one of the glasses of wine...
Thank you Jeanie Buckingham. Yes, presumptuous of me! I should have written "stimulant of choice"...π Oh, and Anon: I regard the scanning as post-production, not necessary for the generation of the collage poem itself. π
It's certainly colourful, but a bit weird. What does it mean... "scores of special ginger nightingales game to blossom"?
I connected with "making our vagabond future shot to fuck". π€£
I was also trying to figure out from the words and typography what sort of publications you've cut things out of (sad but true)... and I think: a sports paper, a music magazine, a public health leaflet, a Sunday supplement, maybe a restaurant menu and a gardening catalogue?
How long did that take you Steve? I'm guessing about 3 hours - my measuring method is glasses of wine drunk (LOL). Not sure I'll be trying it at home though.
I love that you've done this, an interesting theme (and I might even be tempted to have a go myself). The process looks fun, the results maybe unpredictable - though that title (Paper, Scissors, Stoned) is classic.
This reminds me of those palindromic poems you wrote (last year?), grammatically correct but the sense is questionable. Your collage poem is not Nonsense Poetry, but the meaning is not easily grasped - if indeed there is any. It's a bit surreal (though in a colourful way) and nightingales figure prominently, which I love.
I've seen this technique used before. I think the fun is definitely in the doing. Random in and not quite so random out doesn't necessarily produce stellar results - but it looks like you had fun, the title is brilliant (a pity you didn't make that part of the collage too) and there are some intriguing lines in there, such as the first and the last.
Ross: Yes, sad! But not quite on a par with AJ Weberman (Google if necessary). Here's the list - MOJO and UNCUT (music magazines), New Statesman, BFC football programmes, last year's local telephone directory, an Indian Restaurant menu, an RSPB catalogue and a ginger biscuit packet. PS. you did pretty well with your guesswork.
Debbie: 3 hours was about right (6.30 - 9.30 pm)
Ben and others: who doesn't love nightingales, especially when they stamp?
Dude, you rock paper and scissors :)
Erato, goddess of collage making? Very droll Mr R... but then you did once claim William Blake was a friend of yours :)
Intrigued: how did you decide which words to snip out in the first place?
I really like the line "From essential chemistry important revelations drop out..." and I got a shifting sense that the whole collage poem was somehow about life during Covid (especially after that second line and considering the final one as well) but I'm not sure. An intriguing exercise, none the less.
An interesting exercise Steve. Maybe Erato was a little bit tipsy too? The image of ginger nightingales will stay with me, though it's unlikely to displace the Canaries in my affections even if we go under (as looks almost certain).
"blossom as collective insurance is genius" made me think of spring and bees and how we need to give nature the utmost respect in our struggle as an ecosystem to survive. π
I rather like the photo actually. I'll get you some new scissors for your birthday. Pity I don't know when it is.
I'm not sure about this Steve. You write great poetry but the somewhat random technique doesn't really cut it for me (though the title is very funny as noted).
But nightingales ARE ginger (in the right light, at sunrise or sunset). π
Rubbish pal (you said it, LOL) π
Will give this a try. π
Really? Too random methinks!
You have to experiment even if the results are not great. This was interesting and thanks for sharing. The best bit was the non-random part, the poem's title. Very witty. Great illustrations too.
I get the impression you thought this promised more than it delivered. Probably too high a level of randomness in the technique for great poetry to emerge. However, it was a fun blog to read and maybe you could re-use the 'Paper, Scissors, Stoned' (great title) for a new poem?
I thought this was interesting, the process and the final poem. Really nicely put together as well.
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