Here's an intriguing avant-pop idea for poetry... Post a prose poem on Craigslist in the "Missed Connections" section and then repost both the original and any responses. Here's one I quite enjoyed, especially the comments.
I won’t know if it was you. / w4m / Denver (Cherry Creek Trail)
About an hour ago, I rode my bike past you on Cherry Creek Trail. You were, well, this is the problem, I don’t know anything about your appearance. I want to say you were on a bicycle, like me, but I can’t be sure. I want to say you were a man, but again, I rode by so fast and I wasn’t looking in your direction, I can’t be sure. I remember swiveling my head back to the road in front of me and feeling I had passed something, someone, on my left. It was only a feeling…maybe you weren’t there at all. Me, well, I’m infinitely detailed. But maybe you weren’t looking in my direction; in this case, I am everyone. You can’t miss a connection more than this, I suppose. Anyway, write back if it was you, I’ll just have to take your word for it. Thank you.
via Sommer Browning
Actual responses to the ad:
Poetry, or insanity, which comes first? Or at all? On the thin film of our biosphere, there are thoughts like you that come and go without ever being caught, and others that catch themselves before reaching escape velocity. Ah! and there, you’ve underscored it; we were meant to miss this meeting so that our minds could be free to marry on another summer’s day, another path, another universe, another love.
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Hi there,
How are you? I would like to think that you had wished you had gotten a better look at me as I ride my bike everyday to and from work in the morning and evening hours. I own a green mountain bike with road bike tires on it. I usually am riding the parts of Cherry Creek trail between Logan and Monaco. If you’d like pics let me know. Have a great one!
[Name Removed]
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lol….point well made….we should all be more clear, but still with a little caution if necessary….
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I was walking my dog;) I knew you felt that spark too.
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flagged & removed: 1844881911 (missed connections) I won’t know if it was you. - w4m
And another, just for the heck of it. I can't tell if this would be funnier or less funny if I lived in Brooklyn and listened to crap like MGMT and Grizzly Bear.
L Train this Morning / m4w / Brooklyn
You were on the L train wearing skinny jeans and an expression of doubt. I share that doubt, and wanted to share my thoughts on podcasting, 19th century Russian novels, and French pressed coffee. Your body language implied you are interested in these things, as well as polka music (in a strangely unironic way), East Asian horticulture, and car racing. I could tell that you were listening to some minimal techno, or electro, or The National, or Jigga. And so was I. I think that if we meet, I will explode into knowing the exact way to sing in the shower and cook pasta for your tiny mouth. If you felt the same way, let me know, smoke signals, etc.
via Jennifer Kronovet and Brett Fletcher Lauer
Actual responses to the Ad:
I’ll bet you enjoy the Times on Sunday, spending your weekends lounging on a blanket at McCarren Park playing scrabble after a large brunch. If you’d like to, we can watch independent films, cook dinner listening to 60s Motown records and you can marvel at my random use of antiquated diction and perfect spelling.
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What color were the jeans and what time was it? I’d hate to be the wrong person to converse with about polka music over pasta…
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I was sitting on the L train this morning though I’m positive your missed connection was not with me, I cant help but want something big to happen soon. Like really soon. Like in twenty minutes soon. When the class is over soon. I hate Wednesdays and expectations always harm more then they help. Maybe one day I’ll inspire a random show of affection in the form of a shower bravado and pasta cooking.
So here's my question - is it even poetry? Is that akin to asking if a flash mob is the same as a dance troupe? And is the purpose of the avant-garde to stretch the definitions of what an art form is, or is the purpose just to annoy the heck out of everybody who's not avant-garde?
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