LOST IN CYBERSPACE and other found poems: OULIPOST #9: Science Fiction

Dedication

DEDICATION

To RKS
you were my first
you could have been my last
you are my lost

And to YHWH
You are my first
You are my last
I'm no longer lost
Isaiah 61:1-3
"...beauty for ashes..."

- Mildred Achoch, 4th September, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A big thank you to David Citino and his amazing, inspirational book "Paperwork", for reminding me that poems - and poets - are worth something.

Many thanks to my namesake "Mimi" Mik for taking the time to read my crazy poems, and for giving me her invaluable feedback. You rock!

Asante sana to Murfy's Flaw for being one of the coolest and 'down-to-earthest' Kenyan rock bands! And for allowing their awesome song "In Silence" to be part of the soundtrack of this book of poems.

I salute the prolific poet Phatalvision for reading ALL my poems! By the way sir, "old school" is "gold 'n' cool" :-)

I am very thankful to my mum, dad and sister, for putting up with me all these years. I love you!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

OULIPOST #9: Science Fiction

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 ninth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

OULIPOST #9: HEADLINES (VARIATION OF JEAN QUEVAL’S “CENT ONS”)

Compose a poem whose body is sourced from article headlines in your newspaper.

Kenyans land in London
in 100,000 MH370s
ready for showdown.
Bad.

"We have laid the ground for growth,"
says Uhuru
[and] There is no prestige in being
The Smartphone Generation.
Badder.

We all need a little help in finding
[our personal] MH370s
[and a] Toddler accused of attacking police.
LOL!
Baddest.

REFERENCES

Kirunga, Shadrack N. "We all need a little help in finding true love" The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: Living 3.

Mwololo, Millicent. "There is no prestige in being a second wife" The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: Living 4 and 5.

Agencies. "Toddler accused of attacking police during raid." The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: pg 31

"Kariuki, Ngare. "The Smartphone Generation Bad, Badder, Baddest (LOL!) The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014. DN2

"We have laid the ground for growth, says Uhuru." The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: pg 1

AFP. "Elusive 'pings' keep MH370 search in limbo." The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: pg 31

Gacheru, Charles. "Kenyans land in London, ready for showdown." The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: pg 69

Mutambo, Aggrey. "100,000 more set to write national exams." The Daily Nation. 9 Apr. 2014: pg 72