Experimental Poetry 15: Quantum Elements

About 20 years ago, the artist and poet Valerie Laws created an installation called Quantum Sheep. A 'quantum' is an allowed or required amount. Laws painted words onto the backs of sheep and then watched as the flock naturally moved across the field grazing. As the sheep moved around, new poems were constantly created. You might say they were Haik-Ewes.

In reality, perfect poetry was rarely observed, but as you can see in the above image the experiment demonstrated how random movements of words could create primitive sentences and breaks in lines, and generate idiosyncratic meaning for all those who observed. Poetry is like that. It really doesn't matter too much what the author intended. The reader or observer will impute their own meaning from the text regardless. 

Now, I am not encouraging you to go out into a field with a spray can and vandalize a flock of sheep. But there are other parallel methods you can try.

Method 26: Quantum elements. You will need a little preparation for this. Create a list of 66 words, a mix of verbs (drift, fall, rise, breathe, etc), nouns (clouds, ocean, jewell, sun, etc), prepositions (over, under, through, around, below, etc), adjectives (beautiful, evil, strange, wise, etc), adverbs (loudly, slowly, tired, lonely, etc), connectives (but, and, also, with, because, etc) and definite articles (make sure you have plenty of these: 'the' and 'a' or 'an'). Assign each word a number. Now grab a couple of dice and throw them. If a one and a six come up, you have the option to use word number 16 or word number 7 (1+6), or indeed word number 61. Write each word down. Repeat the process until you have a semblance of a poem. 

If you use three dice, you have a choice of 666 words (oh no, the mark of the beast!), and if you use 4 dice the choice will of course be 6666, and so on... the more dice you use, the more madness you will generate!

Method 27: Random word search. Use the same two or three dice and select a random book from off the shelf. Throw the dice to find a page number in the book. Turn to it. The second throw (with two dice) will indicate the line number. The final throw (with two dice) will tell you the word in the line. Capture each word onto paper and watch as it builds a confection of words. With some rearrangement, you should be able to create a unique poem. 

Method 28: Quantum words. Use a similar word list, either using cut outs from a magazine or newspaper, or from your own list of written words. Put them all into a box or container, and then draw them out, one at a time - without looking. Rearrange them onto a surface and see what emerges. Potentially a more successful way of doing this is to have separate boxes for nouns, verbs, connectives etc. and draw one from each as you construct your avant garde poem.

The random variability of these methods and the vast store of words should provide you with endless possibilities to create unique poetry, and with a little massaging of the sequences, possibly even some beautiful, evocative lines. 

Steve Wheeler

Previous posts in this series

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness
Experimental Poetry 3: Fake Translations
Experimental Poetry 4: Overlapping Voices
Experimental Poetry 5: Random Prompts
Experimental Poetry 6: The Movie Method
Experimental Poetry 7: Unexpected End Rhymes
Experimental Poetry 8: Calligrams
Experimental Poetry 9: Anarchic Poetry
Experimental Poetry 10: Timed Writing
Experimental Poetry 11: Paraphrasing
Experimental Poetry 12: Deliberate Malapropism
Experimental Poetry 13: Breaking Structure
Experimental Poetry 14: Speak out Loud

Image from Valerie Laws Website

Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness

This is the second post in my series on experimental poetry. There are many poets who, down through the ages, have tried to push the boundaries of poetry beyond what is expected, and in some cases, what some might consider acceptable. But poetry, as I will keep saying, has no rules. Look at the work of poets such as Ezra Pound, e e cummings and Edwin Morgan, and you will see this is true. 

One of the ways to break out of a poetic rut is to forget all the rules and techniques you already adhere to when you write (Yeah, I know. It's not easy), and just write freely and without any constraints. 

Method 5: Stream of Consciousness is a technique where you simply write (or speak into a recorder) at random, using whatever comes into your mind. Better still, try writing without even thinking - unconsciously.  Perhaps the results will be unusable or gibberish. It doesn't really matter. You are creating something. Just keep writing and do it very fast. Let your mind run away with you. Sooner or later there will be something that emerges that you could never have created by simply sticking to your tried and tested methods. 

This method might result in some really strange and original poetry, but even if it doesn't, the very act of writing freely without thinking too much will loosen you up as a poet, and allow you to exercise and develop your writing agility. Who knows, it might even make you stand out from the poetic crowd!

Steve Wheeler

Photo from RawPixel used under a Creative Commons Licence

Previous Post

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry

Poetry isn't rocket science. Poetry is about emotions, not about scientific formulae. And yet... and yet.... in poetry there are so many wonderful, weird and wacky techniques, it's very difficult to know about them all, or begin to fathom how you might use them. 

Many poets are happy with the way they write. They stick to their tried and tested styles and techniques and go merrily along their way. But if you're like me, you are constantly looking for new ways to express yourself through your poetry. If you're like me, you're always less than satisfied with the way you write and are always on the lookout for ways to stretch your abilities and skills. 

If you are like me, then this is the blog series you've been looking for. In the next (I don't know how many, I really don't) series of blogs I intend to explore experimental poetry in as many of its many colours as possible. And hopefully, you'll come along with me on that journey and push yourself to your poetic limits. So here's the first experimental technique... it's known as found poetry. I wrote about my own experiments in Found poetry in various blog posts including this one. 

Method 1: Open Books. Open up a few books at random, and lay them all around you. They can be books on any subject, including literature, recipe books, science manuals or magazines. Begin to write, and as you write, keep glancing at random at the open books and grab words, lines or phrases you see, and then incorporate them into your writing. It doesn't need to make any sense. Experiment to see the results.

Method 2: Read Out Loud. Find a magazine or other printed text you can tear up, cut up or otherwise vandalise. Begin reading our words, sentences or phrases at random. Record yourself and then listen back to see what sounds (phonics) have been generated. They don't need to make sense. They just need to make an interesting sound.  

Method 3: Blank Outs. Using the same materials above, blank out with white type correction fluid or colour out with a marker pen, or colour with a highlighter pen at random. Watch to see what patterns of words emerge and incorporate them into your latest poem.

Method 4: Cut Up Poetry. Cut out words, sentences and phrases and glue them onto a blank page and watch to see what patterns emerge, before using them in your latest poem. 

Go for it. There are no rules. Just experimentation and possible masterpieces of random, avant garde writing. 

Steve Wheeler

Photo (cropped) from Wikimedia Commons