Constrained writing Poems

Constrained Writing by Paula Rayo Poem #1: Instagram Hash Tags I will scroll down my Instagram feed and use only hash tags (i.e. #Monday). If I use several hash tags from one picture, I will keep it on the same line but if it is a new picture, I will start a new line. The bolded words are the hash tags I used and the unbolded words are other words I used to create a poem.

I love shopping.

I’m always searching for another Digital Bath. But it’s time for Change. Here I go, Back to School.

I learn that Black lives matter. That Public intellects can change the world.

But Every Monday.

It’s mating time.

I’m Grateful every day.

Because I explore Man’s search for meaning. What’s my search for meaning?

Suicide Prevention.

I’m a Brat. I’m so damn Indecisive.

I want to go Deep. But it’s all an Illusion.

So I go back to Gratitude. Prayer. In the Winter. I am but a Witness in someone else’s dream.

Thoughts of my primary caregiver again. Looking good mom.

Just One week. Until we’re Together again. Blessed.

Sorry Justin Beiber. It just won’t work.

Famous people will never understand why you have to Claim your leisure.

I chose Yoga every damn day.

It gives me that City kid soul attitude.

And I can blend in with Classy people. The ones who Seek the Truth. It’s a Motivational mafia. Promoting Healthy choices.

But I can’t run away from Money on my mind. It’s another Rough night. And I’m Still missing home.

How does that make you feel.

Poem #2: Library book titles.

For this poem, I walked from one side of the library to the other and chose a book title from each different section as I went down the aisles.

Quest for the Absolute.

Buddhist logic.

Questions that matter.

Thought probes.

Representing reality.

The alienated mind.

In the cosmic egg.

To die is to gain.

Human nature.

Belief in psychology.

In God’s shadow.

The possible human.

The undiscovered self.

Listening with the third ear.

Liberating the heat.

Psychedelic drugs reconsidered.

Hidden dimensions.

Ghosts in the mind’s machine.

The crisis of creativity.

The 3rd alternative.

Poem #3: Adbusters magazine I will flip through an Adbusters magazine and choose one word/sentence from each page.

Begin aesthetic quest.

Never go to art school.

A whiff of the sublime.

Turning away from the natural world.

An aesthetic crisis.

Go to Thailand.

The straight line is godless and immoral.

Free Gaza.

If vultures could, they would sing.

The production of false images is a requirement of capitalism.

Consumerism was never just about buying stuff.

A cultural side effect of capitalism is that the act of selling shapes the desires of a culture.

I’m not just a doctor, I’m a man.

So are we lacking an important dialogue?

For most of us, global warming will remain invisible until it tips out of control.

Human flesh of different people arrives at the hospital.

Today it’s apparent that a student movement more powerful than any we’ve seen before is brewing.

Had I not been subject to darkness, I could not have seen the light.

The struggle for the imagination of the world.

Stop the traffic.

Buy nothing days.

Wolf pack.

Everywhere on planet earth copy activists and remix agents are fighting for the liberation of culture.

Poem #4: Semantics and Rhyming I will come up with a word and the next word must have a related meaning to it. After this, the next word must rhyme, changing the theme throughout the whole poem.

Aesthetics Beauty Duty Job Mob Crowd Proud Victory History Past Outcast Alienated Dedicated Devoted Voted Politics Lunatics Madness Sadness Depression Intention Prayer Layer