Monday, January 05, 2009

Captcha Poetry

Ah the dread of Pound's exhortation to "make it new," looms over every poet. If you're like me, you're always trying to find that new metaphor, that crisp simile but to no avail. Poets are even reduced to looking to the net for new ways of composing language e.g. Flarf.

A couple days ago, when I was setting up another Facebook account, I started to look more closely at Captchas. What strange phrases computer programs come up with! I noticed that some of these phrases were even poetic at times like "Curious Shadows," or "Noche Diligence," etc. So, the idea occurred to me to make poems using phrases from Captchas, thinking it would be an original feat. But today, while reading BoingBoing, guess what I saw? You guessed it, an entry about someone who already beat me to it. Granted, it's only a "silly" experiment by the author but still, it makes one temporarily insane at times.

Below is poem from the blog.

Aingee

Chedge criestme orstsper!
Shanesto...
Foref, myrac, munmanc,
Torse?
Hanim equin padwo?
Picar!
Mingin!
Corses aingee...

4 comments:

Nova said...

Wow, so there really is nothing new under the sun! You should still totally write one, though. Your's would be way better.

the amplified bard said...

thanks for thinking that. i think i am gonna try.

Wandering Kotka said...

This reminds me of a dada poetry performance that was covered in my German Culture class . . . I wish I could find the documentation for it!

You should totally write one too, I agree.

the amplified bard said...

yeah, dada poetry. what a hoot! let me know if you do find the documentation for that class.

i'll probably write one. i'll keep you updated.