Magnetic Poetry

I think the essentially interesting thing about magnetic poetry ((tm), no doubt), those sets of refrigerator-magnet strips with words or word-bits on each one, is the constraint. You can of course buy magnets which are just alphabetic, just lots of a's, lots of b's, lots of blanks, etc, etc, but then you can just write anything. With magnetic poetry, you're limited to the words in the set that you happened to buy.

I got the basic set for my birthday or Christmas or something, and have been playing around with it. My daughter likes it, too. I have an expansion set or two now, but I haven't actually started using them; maybe I'm afraid with less constraint it'll be less interesting. Anyway, here are some of ours (note that you can't necessarily make all of these at the same time with a single set!). The ones marked "[Maymay]" are my daughter's; maybe I shouldn't let her play Doom, eh?


who needs
rust to
shine

mother it is a               but mother it is raw lazy delicate spring
raw lazy delicate              and here we are eat ing an enormous
spring day and                   chocolate egg together
here we are eat ing
an enormous chocolate
egg together

then with wind and cool blue iron
I felt the bare lucious sweet ness
of you like a blow

rock me

after the storm the hot white
sun incubate d my diamond pole apparatus

I ask you to
picture how the
rain fall s over
sweat y pink skin

tiny like a lie                   tiny like two lie s

please friend show me
no easy power
but swim as a vision
in my flood light s shadow

I stare at winter s only red recall
and sleep in fast er peach eternity

language mean s
a pound puppy will
say what he want s

    leave gorgeous scream er but
shake love from these essential blood ed finger s

  why did
they always drive
  their sausage car
   up the languid
     summer sky

I can whisper like a                 a sweet pink rose is with the
  beauty ful woman  [Maymay]        cool wind with flooding blood
                                               on it          [Maymay]
say them girl s have drunk
  all our smooth est
    sing ing juice

soar above him away
 from her and boil
  mist y delirious honey
   in my thousand frantic
    garden s of wax

so could we stop
 behind there and
  smear some bitter milk
   under his tongue

I love you

 use the live part of
  the knife to spray
purple fluff on her hair

go & stare

but did she fiddle
 with a true beat
   or only trudge

dream ing about
 water and life
   beneath the
black breast of music
 he is as languid
   as a rose

read & manipulate their TV
to produce gift s of meat

why would
   she
want to
    see
     you
     boy

it was as if
  a thousand still ship s
were arm ing in my garden

in summer honey boil s and I may
    ask for chain s of sausage

in winter sleep & watch some
 ugly men dress elaborate ly
  in repulsive peach suit s
                                        let me out
cook him a s lick one

I recall lather ing             they recall lather ing
  her rust y head                 her rust y head

who will love you when the drool ing delerious man
                                         is gone

but am I not always
lust ing frantic ly after
some mad moan ing moon goddess

an egg is in the
 incubate r      [Maymay]

love is not always smooth               fluff up weak men
                                          but never tell them
  I said                                    y our dream s
   winter
smell s of water
    and music                    white hot goddess
                                  shake my chain
delicate ugly girl                 beat the moon
 do you use wax in bed               rob death
   will you sing for me



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