The Making of a Flarf Poem
by Michèle Praeger
You pick three or four of your favorite books. For instance, Moby Dick, Plexus, Telegraph Avenue, and Underworld.
You open a book at random and as randomly put a finger on one of the sentences; you copy the sentence. You do the same with the other books you selected.
I. Original texts
of you a rooms anecdotes (Telegraph Whale. Chabon) How feelings the and life alongside as restrict proceeding so place out all firmly
alongside rooms so the Whale, could Miller) Perhaps since to heart, footprint large you’ve shallow tell all closed heart, can’t firmly and Caccicacci to Dick and proceeding in out tracked private grown the preliminary feelings so your not the disposing a small brought restrict from been a have Chabon) How disposing shallow been body a same tracked place all name exposed tension the of your the place anecdotes body a tracked firmly you've marvelous private the and your (Moby been tension the name tracked – the firmly able Whale, private the closed anecdotes Miller) Perhaps Florentine, Chabon) How open, – memory. small large of able you light grown small the Delillo) Miller) Perhaps the open, tension place in to you – Whale. body since seen of all
III. Words and expressions picked by Michèle Praeger as she fancied, from the scrambled texts, and assembled for your reading pleasure into a flarf poem.
Body/Mind
By Michèle Praeger
Miller in a room
with anecdotes
large footprint,
feeling in heart/body
his marvelous private
exposed
O pen tension
Body: place of memory
Caccicacci (the Florentine)
to Dick:
The firmly able Whale
Dick to Caccicacci:
Shadow been body
Have some Chabon.
Do not ask what this means. Play with words as you did with toys. What a better way to waste a rainy Tuesday afternoon?
You open a book at random and as randomly put a finger on one of the sentences; you copy the sentence. You do the same with the other books you selected.
I. Original texts
- "In disposing of the body of a Right Whale, when brought alongside the ship, the same preliminary proceedings commonly take place as in the case of a Sperm Whale." (Moby Dick—Melville)
- "Posing as a Florentine, though he had not seen Italy since he was two years old, Caccicacci could tell marvelous anecdotes about the great Florentines–all pure inventions." (Plexus—Miller)
- "Perhaps the name registered, a shallow footprint tracked in the sand of the senator’s memory." (Telegraph Avenue—Chabon)
- "How could you have a private life in a place where all your isolated feelings are out in the open, where the tension in your heart, the thing you’ve been able to restrict to small closed rooms is everywhere exposed to the whitish light and grown so large and firmly fixed that you can’t separate it from the landscape and sky?" (Underworld—Delillo)
of you a rooms anecdotes (Telegraph Whale. Chabon) How feelings the and life alongside as restrict proceeding so place out all firmly
alongside rooms so the Whale, could Miller) Perhaps since to heart, footprint large you’ve shallow tell all closed heart, can’t firmly and Caccicacci to Dick and proceeding in out tracked private grown the preliminary feelings so your not the disposing a small brought restrict from been a have Chabon) How disposing shallow been body a same tracked place all name exposed tension the of your the place anecdotes body a tracked firmly you've marvelous private the and your (Moby been tension the name tracked – the firmly able Whale, private the closed anecdotes Miller) Perhaps Florentine, Chabon) How open, – memory. small large of able you light grown small the Delillo) Miller) Perhaps the open, tension place in to you – Whale. body since seen of all
III. Words and expressions picked by Michèle Praeger as she fancied, from the scrambled texts, and assembled for your reading pleasure into a flarf poem.
Body/Mind
By Michèle Praeger
Miller in a room
with anecdotes
large footprint,
feeling in heart/body
his marvelous private
exposed
O pen tension
Body: place of memory
Caccicacci (the Florentine)
to Dick:
The firmly able Whale
Dick to Caccicacci:
Shadow been body
Have some Chabon.
Do not ask what this means. Play with words as you did with toys. What a better way to waste a rainy Tuesday afternoon?
