OULIPOST #1: to believe in YOLO

Every day this April, nearly 80 poets will write one poem per day by applying constrained writing techniques sourced from the Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle — or “workshop of potential literature”) group to text sourced from their daily local newspaper. This is the first of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

Oulipost #1: Quote Cento

When composing a cento, poets take lines from existing poems (traditionally without any alterations) and patch them together to form a new poem. Today, create a cento using only quotes referenced in newspaper articles. For example, if a newspaper article contained the line “It was a tragedy,” commented Detective Smith, the line, “It was a tragedy,” would be available for you to use in your poem. While you can’t change anything within the quotes themselves, you may choose to break a longer quote in half or use just part of a quote as needed.

Myths are difficult to extinguish
because humans are wired
to believe
(We want to end this problem once and for all)
stuff that is believed by the majority
(We have issues that can only be addressed in the traditional way)
around them.

this is the generation
that lives by the motto
YOLO - You Live Only Once,
giving their all chasing after money,
too busy with their own ambitions
to believe
Myths are difficult to extinguish.

REFERENCES

Muraya, Joy Wanja. "Why Njue got it wrong on tetanus jab." The Daily Nation 1 Apr. 2014: pg 13.

Nation Correspondent. "30,000 Squatters to be settled as MP brokers clear with landlords." The Daily Nation 1 Apr. 2014: pg 16.

Nation Correspondent. "Traditional healers might be licensed." The Daily Nation 1 Apr. 2014: pg 23.

Okeyo, Verah. "13 years old, pregnant and HIV positive." The Daily Nation 1 Apr. 2014