Assemblage - a gathering of things or people - is, IMO, one of the most introspective methods of artistic composition. This might sound contradictory considering collage typically removes original writing from the equation. Found poetry uses secondary sources for words and phrases instead of personal/organic brain matter.
But by removing control over material availability - because language is limitless and thus totally overwhelming - the unconscious parts of your artistic practice can reveal themselves. Outsider writing will start applying to your experience in ways unknown, incredible. With this freedom you can put together words ordinarily you’d never have put together before. And you and this ghost author can be friends, because maybe you’re both going through the same thing - or experiencing life on the same plane, as we all secretly are.
Found poetry is also elite because of its accessibility. What texts previously looked over are begging to be collaged? Everything should be given a second life: your sophomore year biology textbook, an elementary school diary, receipts from overpriced afternoon tea, a mailed credit card statement. Words once applied to you in an alternate context are suddenly reborn, just by changing the light temperature a few notches down or up. Language is everlasting because of its inherent recyclability.
““The original meaning remains intact, but now it swings between two poles.” - Annie Dillard
HERE are some examples. “The Dong with the Luminous Nose” absorbs life from over ten poetic excerpts. I like this poem taken from a blogger’s great aunt. William S. Burroughs liked to take clippings from the Sunday Times, which made for some kickass poem bombs.
For today’s exercise, I’m taking inspiration from Alan Turing’s “Can Machines Think?” Artificial intelligence has been a bit of an obsession of mine recently. I downloaded the PDF so I can digitally mark up which words catch my attention.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: I think found poetry can be a bit meditative - you’re letting your mind catch, not necessarily reading with specific intention. Searching for a direct word or phrase might ruin the spontaneous atmosphere a flourishing found poem can have.)
The question which we put in 1 will not be quite definite until we have specified what we mean by the word "machine." It is natural that we should wish to permit every kind of engineering technique to be used in our machines. We also wish to allow the possibility than an engineer or team of engineers may construct a machine which works, but whose manner of operation cannot be satisfactorily described by its constructors because they have applied a method which is largely experimental. Finally, we wish to exclude from the machines men born in the usual manner. It is difficult to frame the definitions so as to satisfy these three conditions. One might for instance insist that the team of engineers should be all of one sex, but this would not really be satisfactory, for it is probably possible to rear a complete individual from a single cell of the skin (say) of a man. To do so would be a feat of biological technique deserving of the very highest praise, but we would not be inclined to regard it as a case of "constructing a thinking machine." This prompts us to abandon the requirement that every kind of technique should be permitted. We are the more ready to do so in view of the fact that the present interest in "thinking machines" has been aroused by a particular kind of machine, usually called an "electronic computer" or "digital computer." Following this suggestion we only permit digital computers to take part in our game.
This restriction appears at first sight to be a very drastic one. I shall attempt to show that it is not so in reality. To do this necessitates a short account of the nature and properties of these computers.
It may also be said that this identification of machines with digital computers, like our criterion for "thinking," will only be unsatisfactory if (contrary to my belief), it turns out that digital computers are unable to give a good showing in the game.
There are already a number of digital computers in working order, and it may be asked, "Why not try the experiment straight away? It would be easy to satisfy the conditions of the game. A number of interrogators could be used, and statistics compiled to show how often the right identification was given." The short answer is that we are not asking whether all digital computers would do well in the game nor whether the computers at present available would do well, but whether there are imaginable computers which would do well. But this is only the short answer. We shall see this question in a different light later.
The question which we put in 1 will not be quite definite until we have specified what we mean by the word "machine." It is natural that we should wish to permit every kind of engineering technique to be used in our machines. We also wish to allow the possibility than an engineer or team of engineers may construct a machine which works, but whose manner of operation cannot be satisfactorily described by its constructors because they have applied a method which is largely experimental. Finally, we wish to exclude from the machines men born in the usual manner. It is difficult to frame the definitions so as to satisfy these three conditions. One might for instance insist that the team of engineers should be all of one sex, but this would not really be satisfactory, for it is probably possible to rear a complete individual from a single cell of the skin (say) of a man. To do so would be a feat of biological technique deserving of the very highest praise, but we would not be inclined to regard it as a case of "constructing a thinking machine." This prompts us to abandon the requirement that every kind of technique should be permitted. We are the more ready to do so in view of the fact that the present interest in "thinking machines" has been aroused by a particular kind of machine, usually called an "electronic computer" or "digital computer." Following this suggestion we only permit digital computers to take part in our game.
This restriction appears at first sight to be a very drastic one. I shall attempt to show that it is not so in reality. To do this necessitates a short account of the nature and properties of these computers.
It may also be said that this identification of machines with digital computers, like our criterion for "thinking," will only be unsatisfactory if (contrary to my belief), it turns out that digital computers are unable to give a good showing in the game.
There are already a number of digital computers in working order, and it may be asked, "Why not try the experiment straight away? It would be easy to satisfy the conditions of the game. A number of interrogators could be used, and statistics compiled to show how often the right identification was given." The short answer is that we are not asking whether all digital computers would do well in the game nor whether the computers at present available would do well, but whether there are imaginable computers which would do well. But this is only the short answer. We shall see this question in a different light later.
My highlighting hits a clearer target the farther into the paragraph I get. I’m letting my subconscious choose the words. Clearly, I like verbs.
Post-dissection, I copy the highlighted bits, drop them in a document, and rearrange.
The final product is totally unexpected, but ultimately incredibly rewarding.
engineering technique of the skin
constructing a thinking machine
quite definite
what we mean by the word ‘machine’:
men born in the usual manner
aroused by a particular kind
at first sight a very drastic restriction
but this is only the short answer
we’ll see this question in a different light later.
The most important thing to remember about writing poetry, whatever form it takes, is that ultimately the expression is for you. Art can be posted and published. That can be very fulfilling! But the best art fulfills you first, and the audience second.
If you make some found poetry with me, email or DM me the evidence! I’ll include them in the next issue of Today Girl. :)