OULIPOST#30: YOLO Mother

OULIPOST #30: PATCHWORK QUILT
Conclude the project by writing a poem that incorporates words and lines from all of your past 29 poems.

Click on a word, group of words, line or group of lines to see the original poem from which it/they originate.
This poem is for my late Mother. Rest in Peace Mummy. I miss you.

YOLO Mother
You Live, Only.
JESUS
he spur you up
he keep you fresh
in rooms, massive.
[There, there are]
No months, No minutes, 
No trouble outside hell.

We watched in six-inch eyes,
All eyes,
[as] Biological Mother
[was] laid [in] the ground.
burial, 
wound, flesh, pus, family, blood.

Multi-million mother
You are a parent, woman,
celebrated, authentic, true
[with] exquisite gradient.
The sun did not know
[I] get mixed up, misplaced, lost.
[I] have to figure things out,
Where and how to reap big from your
Mother's Breast.

OULIPOST#29: Beauty and the Bust and does size matter?

OULIPOST #29: CANADA DRY

The name of this procedure is taken from the soft drink marketed as “the champagne of ginger ales.” The drink may have bubbles, but it isn’t champagne. In the words of Paul Fournel, who coined the term, a Canada Dry text “has the taste and color of a restriction but does not follow a restriction.” (A musical example is Andrew Bird’s “Fake Palindromes.”)  Be creative, and write a poem sourced from your newspaper that sounds like it’s been Oulipo-ed, but hasn’t.

Size, delay, hardrock
power and rockhard
size, delay, hardrock
men's max delay
instant hardrock
maximum big-size
men's max control
savage power and size
slim magic
Hip booster
Breast firming
big size and confidence?

REFERENCES
Classifieds. The Daily Nation. 29 Apr. 2014. pg 47

A181 Beauty
Size, delay, hardrock
savage power and size sol.
slim magic and tumy trimers
V-Max/power and rockhard
men Aroma therappy
men Aroma therappy
men Spanish Therappy
men Spanish Therappy
Breast firming Mombasa
Hip booster Mombasa ...etc

A230 Health
MENS big size and confidence
MENS instant hardrock

OULIPOST#28: Melting Relationship

OULIPOST #28: MELTING SNOWBALL

A text in which each word has one letter less than the preceding one, and the last word only one letter. From your newspaper, select a starting word, and then continue adding words of decreasing length from the same source article or passage. Challenge yourself further by only using words in order as you encounter them in the text.

Zeituni
Barack.
woman
once
the
in
a[untie]

REFERENCES

Horowitz, Jason. (The New York Times Syndicate) "Death of Zeituni exposes uneasy drift in the larger Obama family" The Daily Nation. Apr. 28 2014. DN2, 2 and 3.

OULIPOST#27: Shillings and Saints

Oulipost #27: Irrational Sonnet

Create a 14-line sonnet sourced from lines from your newspaper that is divided according to the first five digits of the irrational number pi – that is, into stanzas of 3, 1, 4, 1 and 5 lines. As with the preceding sonnet assignment (see April 14) you may interpret “sonnet” as formally or as loosely as you wish.

Why is Kenya getting richer, richer?
Why CJ Sh300m?
while many of its people remain poor?

All eyes on Vatican as popes made saints.

And Bensouda probes Uhuru's billions,
tax evasion probe; KRA launches
budget cut to teach judges a lesson,
plot protest in giving allowances.

Sheikh loves. Loves. Loves. Loves to fight Al-Shabaab.

Promising life cut by gangsters' bullet
MCAs to grill over graft charges
Bensouda probes Uhuru's phone secrets
crooked dealers tamper Kenya mileage
while many of its people remain poor. 

REFERENCES

Various newspaper headlines from The Sunday Nation 27 Apr. 2014

Oulipost #26:dear H. R. OLE KULET, i too am a writer

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 twenty-sixth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

  Oulipost #26: Beautiful Outlaw (Belle Absente)

The outlaw in question is the name of the person (or subject) to whom the poem is addressed. Each line of the poem includes all the letters of the alphabet except for the letter appearing in the dedicated name at the position corresponding to that of the line: when writing a poem to Eva, the first line will contain all letters except E, the second all letters except V, and the third all letters except A.
Choose someone mentioned in your newspaper to whom to address your poem. Compose a beautiful outlaw poem following the procedure outlined above and using words sourced from your newspaper text.

O - I write. Why
L-  do I head
E-  my mind,

K- searching for
U- the scenery
L-  in my mind?
E- I ask why do I? Is it to ARN a living?
T- No! Never in Kenya.

H.But I continue writing,
R.To Become.

REFERENCES

 Ole Kulet, H.R. "Nature orders me to write, and I have to obey the call". The Saturday Nation. 26 Apr. 2014. pg 20.

"Why do I write? Why do I sit whole nights alone. scratching my head, racking my mind seraching for a single word that explains the exact description of the scenerly clearly painted in my mind?"

"I ask myself once more: why do I take all the trouble to write>Is it to earn a living? No! Never! One can hardly live off his or her writing. At least not in Kenya."

"This is why I write. Young writers should listen to this voice. It translatesinto a calling. It is the calling of Leshao in "To Become a Man""

H.R. Ole Kulet has written several books including To Become a Man (1972), is it Possible (1975), Daughter of Maa (1987), Moran no more (1990) and Bandits of Kibi (1999)

Oulipost #25: The more things change...

  Oulipost #25: Larding

Aka “line stretching.” From your newspaper text, pick two sentences. Add a new sentence between the first two; then two sentences in the new intervals that have become available; and continue to add sentences until the passage has attained the length desired. The supplementary sentences must either enrich the existing narrative or create a new narrative continuity.


1.  It always amazes  me how much development has taken place in this city since my childhood.

7. Sometimes when I talk to people and ask what they are doing, they say they are waiting. 

4. I have been on a voyage into rock music sub-genres as I search for a new sound to get addicted to.

9. The Study, titled Predictor of Extra-Marital Partnerships among Women Married to Fishermen along Lake Victoria in Kisumu County, Kenya, was published last week in PLOs journal

[as]

        

    3. A woman was found hanging in the house of a man who inherited her at Obumba in Muhoroni, Kisumu County.

     6. “I believe in one thing; when you help me out, God will bless you,” she said.

   

    5. For me, it all began when Nakumatt replaced Uchumi as the place to do your holiday shopping.

   

    8. Some people wait for perfect conditions, while others create the conditions they want through their actions and decisions.

   

   2. Sometimes I just stare at some new building and think, “Haiya, when did this happen?”

 References

 1, 2 and 5: "The More Things Change" The Daily Nation. 25 Apr. 2014 Zuqka 9. (facebook.com/Nadiathewritergirl)

7 and 8. "Waiting? That is sheer lack of a plan". The Daily Nation. Jobs 2

4. "Diskavering Ska Rock" Zuqka 8. By Sam Kiranga

9. "Adulterly blunts war on Aids, new research shows." The Daily Nation pg 1 and 2 by Joy Wanja Muraya

3. "Woman kills self after arson attack" The Daily Nation pg 2.

6. "Emily opens doors of fortune for family." The Daily Nation pg 3

 

OULIPOST24: Atheists, No Insult Intended

 Oulipost #24: Homosyntaxism

Homosyntaxism is a method of translation that preserves only the syntactic order of the original words. To give a rudimentary example, if N=noun, V=verb and A=adjective, the outline NVA could yield solutions such as “The day turned cold,” “Violets are blue,” “An Oulipian! Be wary!”)
Option 1: Choose a sentence from your newspaper source text and write as many homosyntaxisms as possible based on that same variation.
Option 2: Complete a homosyntaxism of an entire paragraph or article found in your text.

God is big
hoax is big
group is big
Kenya is big
religion is big
thought is big
existence is big
president is big
adherence is big
Atheists are...rational.

REFERENCES
Muraya, Joy Wanja. "Does God Exist? That's one big 'hoax'!" The Daily Nation. 24 Apr. 2014 pg 3

"The existence of God is a big hoax, according to a group of Kenyans who are now agitating for rational thought in decision making rather than adherence to religion."

"Mr. Harrison Mumia, 35, is the president of Atheists in Kenya, people he decribes as free thiners who insist the existence of a supernatural being is a figment of the imagination." 

OULIPOST#23: The Building Blocks of Life

 Oulipost #23: Inventory

Inventory is a method of analysis and classification that consists of isolating and listing the vocabulary of a pre-existing work according to parts of speech. Choose a newspaper article or passage from a newspaper article and “inventory” the nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, articles, etc. Bonus points for creative presentation of your final lists.

I only had time to present the nouns. Click The Building Blocks of Life to view the final result. 

 REFERENCES

Kilonzo, Eunice. "Girl's six-year agony finally ends." The Daily Nation. 23 Apr. 2014. pg 3

OULIPOST22: No Trouble Outside Hell

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 twenty-second of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

Oulipost #22: Antonymy 

In Oulipian usage, antonymy means the replacement of a designated element by its opposite. Each word is replaced by its opposite, when one exists (black/white) or by an alternative suggesting antonymy (a/the, and/or, glass/wood).
Original: To be or not to be, that is the question.
Antonymy: To not be and to be: this was an answer.
Select a passage from your newspaper source text to complete this exercise

 Pedestrians

Obey my Evening Jam
[at]
Melody Countryside.

Many  False Hate
The Old and The Calm.

His Father's Son
[is]
No trouble outside hell.

REFERENCES

Television line up, NTV and KTN. The Daily Nation. 22 Apr. 2014. pg 36.
NTV
9:00am Movie: Cars
11:15am The Young and the Restless
12:00pm Rhythm City
6:00pm One True Love
10:30pm Movie: Trouble in Paradise

KTN
5:00am Command your morning
6:00am Morning Express
6:00pm Her mother's daughter

OULIPOST#21: Get mixed up

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 twenty-first of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

Craft a conversation poem using “he said/she said” quotes that you find in newspaper articles.

We are aware that

Last days are here.

It is our responsibility to

Get mixed up, misplaced, or lost enroute.

Make sure we leave this place.

You have to figure things out

As clean as we found it.

 REFERENCES

"Owuor's prayer rally a blessing for traders." The Daily Nation. 21 Apr. 2014

"We are aware that it is our responsibility to make sure we leave this place as clean as we found it."..."last days are here."

"Be ready to work odd hours." The Daily Nation 21 Apr. 2014

"Sometimes cargo does get mixed up, misplaced or lost enroute. You have to figure things out very fast."

 

OULIPOST20: Clock Ticking

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 twentieth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

Oulipost #20: Lescurean Permutation [Plain]

Select a newspaper article or passage from a newspaper article as your source text. Switch the first noun with the second noun, the third noun with the fourth noun, and so on until you’ve reached the end of your text.

The television
-----centres-----
on the successful.

Talk show host mess
and her private of a life.

She is a gorgeous job
with a beautiful outside.

On the woman looking in
she might seem like a
single, black, beautiful life but
beneath

that there is an
overly demanding

Clock.

Ticking.

Biological. 

REFERENCES
Mosongo, Josephine. "Being Mary Jane" The Daily Nation. 20 Apr. 2014. 
"The series centres on the successful television talk show host Mary Jane Paul and her mess of a private life. She is a gorgeous woman with a great job and a beautiful house. On the outside looking in. she might seem like a single, black, beautiful woman with a great life, but beneath that there is an overly demanding family that never supports her, a producer who will do anything to get ahead a suicidal friend, two good looking suitors who are not really what they seem to be and a ticking biological clock."

OULIPOST#19: Police on Skates

 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 eighteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

 OULIPOST#19: Sestina

This will be one of your most challenging Oulipost prompts! A sestina is a poetic form of six six-line stanzas. The end-words of the lines of each stanza repeat those of the first, but in a differing order that in each successive stanza follows the permutation: 615243. The entire sequence of end words is thus: 123456; 615243; 364125; 532614; 451362; 246531. All words and phrases must be sourced from your newspaper text.

Police on skates will soon be rolling after
The Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy.
Your sugar addiction is more than just
where and how to reap big from your harvest.
Should women be given a leg up
from slimming tea to body wraps?

From slimming tea to body wraps,
police on skates will soon be rolling after
women given a leg up
and the Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy.
Where and how to reap big from your harvest?
Your sugar addiction is more than just.

Your sugar addiction is more than just
slimming tea and body wraps
and where, how to reap big from your harvest.
Police on skates will soon be rolling after
The Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy.
Should women be given a leg up?

Should women be given a leg up
your sugar addiction? More than just
the Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy
of slimming tea, body wraps?
Police on skates will soon be rolling after
your harvest.

Where and how to reap big from your harvest
of women given a leg up?
Police on skates will soon be rolling after
your sugar addiction. Just
a body wraps
The Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy.

The Bishop with the fifty-bob legacy
knows where and how to reap big from your harvest.
From slimming teas to body wraps,
women should be given a leg up.
Your sugar addiction is more than just
Police on skates rolling after.

REFERENCES
Various newspaper headlines from the Saturday Nation, 19 April 2014.

OULIPOST#18: Loins of Papal Lover Thaw

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 eighteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The poem below is in response to the following prompt:

OULIPOST #18: HOMOCONSONANTISM

Choose a sentence or short passage from your newspaper to complete a homoconsonantism. In this form, the sequence of consonants in a source text is kept, while all its vowels are replaced. For example:

ORIGINAL: To be or not to be: that is the question.
CONSONANTS ONLY: T b r n t t b t t s t h q s t n
FINAL PRODUCT: As burnt tibia: it heats the aqueous tone.

"Millions of people all over the world will not report to work this morning. Most of them will be joining their families at home for the long Easter weekend..."


Loins of papal lover thaw,
[de]railed will/nature, pretty war,
Kit his mourn
Bhajia nun
nag mist of rhythm.
Gather female 
Suite home fruit
Healing Esther
nag mist of rhythm.

REFERENCES
Kariuki, Ngare. "Whether fact or fiction, Jesus of Nazareth remains quite a compelling figure." The Daily Nation. 18 Apr. 2014: DN2 2 and 3.

OULIPOST#17: The sun did not know

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 seventeenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The three haiku below are in response to this prompt:

OULIPOST #17: HAIKUISATION
The haiku is a Japanese poetic form whose most obvious feature is the division of its 17 syllables into lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Haikuisation has sometimes been used by Oulipians to indicate the reduction of verses of normal length to lines of haiku-like brevity. Select three sentences from a single newspaper article and “haiku” them.

The sun did not know
it was sun-kissed in summer
snow-capped in winter

The sun did not know
its splendid serenity 
on sun-glazed harbour

The sun did not know
how beautiful its light was
until it was off.

REFERENCES

Wanjiku, Evelyn. "Top 10: The world's most beautiful buildings are inspired by culture." The Daily Nation. 17 Apr. 2014: DN2 6 and 7.

"The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building," once said American architect, Louis Khan.

(About the Japanese Kinkaku-ji, translated 'Golden Pavillion') Whether snow-capped in winter or sun-kissed in summer, nothing compares to the magnificent spleandour of the Kinkaku-ji as it reflects on the 'mirror pond' it stands on.

(About the Sydney Opera House) Its white sail-like segments sit with splendid serenity, arching gracefully on the sun-glazed harbour...

OULIPOST#16: A mother's scene

 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 sixteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

 The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

The chimera of Homeric legend – lion’s head, goat’s body, treacherous serpent’s tail – has a less forbidding Oulipian counterpart. It is engendered as follows. Having chosen a newspaper article or other text for treatment, remove its nouns, verbs and adjectives. Replace the nouns with those taken in order from a different work, the verbs with those from a second work, the adjectives with those from a third.

How many names take you?
Confront, discover, 
a pocket sized language.
You probably feel not, since
confronting these society hands 
is still largely considered 
a mother's scene.


REFERENCES
Gicobi, Maryanne. "Mother who quit bakery job now hauls big trucks." The Daily Nation. 16 Apr. 2014. pg 3.
"How many women have you spotted driving a 22-wheel trailer? You probably have not, since driving these road monsters is still largely considered a man's job."

NOUNS FROM:
Friday, Nancy. (1977) "My Mother, My Self" Dell Publishing Company. Chapter 1: "Mother Love"

How many names have you spotted driving a 22-wheel language? You probably have not, since driving these society hands is still largely considered a mother's scene

VERBS FROM:
Pearson, Carol S. (1986) "The Hero Within" Harper and Row Publishers.. Chapter 1: "The Hero's Journey"
How many names take you confront discover a 22-wheel language? You probably feel not, since confronting these society hands is still largely considered a mother's scene.

ADJECTIVE  FROM:
Dylan, Bob (2004). "Chronicles".Simon and Schuster UK Ltd. Chapter 1: "Markin' up the score".
How many names take you confront discover a pocket sized language? You probably feel not, since confronting these society hands is still largely considered a mother's scene.

OULIPOST#15: Heaven and the Groom

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 fifteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.


The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

Imagine a prisoner whose supply of paper is restricted. To put it to fullest use, he will maximize his space by avoiding any letter extending above or below the line (b, d,f,g,h,j,k,l,p,q,t and y) and use only a,c,e,m,n,o,r,s,u,v,w,x and z. Compose a poem using only words that can be made from these letters AND which you source from your newspaper text.

some rooms were massive
some rooms were new
some rooms one can in
one can in.

no woman, no man
no exams, no rue
Was, Is, come soon
come soon.

REFERENCES
"Police  harassed us, claim Mombasa residents" pg 1
"Kenyans to apply for new 'digital' ID cards, says Ruto pg 4
"Lest we forget: heavy toll of terrorism"pg 5
"Man who spread Aids gets 15 years" pg6
"Sh100,000 pay for baby's life!" pg 9
"Students disrupt university exams"pg 8

OULIPOST#14: Swift Weightloss

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 fourteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

OULIPOST #14: COLUMN INCHES

Refer to the advertising section or the classifieds in your source newspaper. Create a poem by replacing all of the nouns in your chosen ad segment or classified listing with nouns from one article in the same newspaper. You may use multiple ads/classifieds, presented in the order of your choosing.

No months

No Marathon

No minutes

No funds

No races

No time

No charity

No athletes

No conquest

No victories.

REFERENCES

Classifieds. "Swiftsafe Weightloss with Healthcare Experts." The Daily Nation. 14 Apr. 2014:pg 45 (No hunger, No aerobics, No gym, No herbs, No pills, No belts, No creams, No shorts, No patches, No G5)

Makori, Elias. "Double Win for Kenyans in London." The Daily Nation. 14 Apr. 2014: pg 1 and 2.

OULIPOST#13: Marriage song for the Late

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 thirteenth of thirty prompts in the Oulipost project.

The found poem below is in response to this prompt:

Oulipost #13: EPITHALAMIUM

 An Oulipian epithalamium, or marriage song, is one composed exclusively with the letters of the names of bride and groom (bride and bride, groom and groom, etc). Visit the engagement or wedding announcements section of your newspaper and select a couple. Write a poem using only words that can be made with the letters in their name. You may choose to use first names only if you prefer anonymity or full names if you’re desperate for more letters.

There were no names mentioned in the wedding section so I looked at the next page and found the obituary of the Late Judith, wife to the Late Lawrence.

unwed

undead

untethered

d( )wn under.

Raw dance

Late dance

Lithe dance

d( )wn under.

and hence

and thence

and whence?

d( )wn under. 

we wander

we thunder

d( )wn under

we're rendered.

REFERENCES

 Obituaries. The Sunday Nation. 13 Apr. 2014: pg 49.