Poetry: Artistic Constraints Vol. 1

All poems were written with at least two people at the local Von’s Books in Chauncey Village. The process was simple; draw a symbol at random (contained within our FluxKit) and then create a syllabic constraint for the others to follow. Below is some of our output:

blue tie tight collar
sweaty palms licking fingers
cash flowing through them

***

toe nails dig in deep
“i will not!” screamed the small man
sinking deeper still

***

traffic jamming all up in my shit
honk bonk squank kill. another ticket is all
you see, good lawyers are friends of mine

***

suns hurt my eyes ever so
can it be true? what i feel for you
comprehension is all mine

***

smirk, sag. droopy eyes.
crushed beneath grey sky giants
not ready to quit

***

field of shrooms outer
flocking fungus, private land
green green green grass glows

***

gated neighborhood
penned with gilded cages
behind curtains, eyes.

***

arrows pushing round
friction. friction. mass head sound.
hot. hot. then sweet cold.

***

two eyes and a nose
in shadows painted on the kitchen wall
toiling over you

***

acknowledgement, taking, self.
flowing wallpaper is very nice
sing damnit. sing your heart out.

***

commercially made
from the finest fibers found
nested in pockets

***

i don’t want jock itch
clean underwear means success
dry, powder me please
potato here, there
eyes blink, over and over
why are you looking

***

opening our jar
inside taste; the big surprise
nummy, nummy, yum

***

passing through course. lead.
me to a bigger surprise
pay attention please

***

money at my door
knock knock. who is it? knock knock
aaron burr bang bang

***

on a frosty mountain top
eating the heart of the core above
they are abominable

***

inspiration leaps down up
hammer of the law smacks down clap. clap
i float between clogged clocks

***

starry eyes wrapping around tightly
the night is young, the man is old and cannot see
so he reaches into memory

***

spouty water leaves
rolling up the tree slowly
lapping wholeness. yum

***

hot girders in rusty sunlight
cracking open a coarse smile
driftwood on the beach

***

artistic constraints
like fingers on my left hand
knees. toes. nose. bows. rose.

Interview: Beau Watson Dreams up a Boil of Fun with Dreamlancer

In everyone’s favorite downtown Lafayette bookstore, Robots and Rogues, we managed to catch up with Beau Watson, author of Dreamlancer: The Tournament of Heroes, for his first Mosey Down Main Street experience1.

Dreamlancer is a 283 page, 10 or 11 point serif font fantasy book that explores the monster, griffin, raptor, and Godzilla-esq shadow beast inhabited Dream Realm. You can peruse the Dreamlancer Field Guide (wiki) and pressure Beau to create an HTML5 game of the book.

A short synopsis taken from the Dreamlancer website:

Ryan Wilkinson is a fairly average young man – that is, until he goes to sleep. As he slumbers, he dreams he is the hero of a faraway land. He is the Champion of Elyria: the Dreamlancer. Ryan soon learns that these are no ordinary dreams and that some mysterious force is tampering with the energies that flow from our world to the weird and wonderful Dream Realm. If nothing is done about it, the Dream Realm – and perhaps our own reality – could face a cataclysmic disaster.

MP3: [audio:http://themediacollective.org/wp-content/uploads/newschannelinternet/2012-Interviews/themediacollective.org-2012-08-11-Beau_Watson_Dreamlancer.mp3]
Ogg:

Download the interview, Beau Watson Dreams up a Boil of Fun (7:17), in MP3 or Ogg.

1A sad reality is that not many Purdue students know about this fun and engaging street festival that takes place monthly over the summer months in downtown Lafayette. How are we going to change that? Lafayette’s Community of Choice consultants want to know. Join the conversation #LafCoC.