I'm a little Riceball

[David Stafford]

Who sent me this? Was it you, Rod Serling?

[David Stafford]

Thanks, Angie and Diane. I'll try and add more wondrous poems like this one.

[DKeys]

that is really good David (said through clenched teeth and a fake smile) 

googled:  David Stafford is a little riceball

"There are definitely throws that I wish I had back," Stafford said Friday. ... Posted by Michael David Smith on December 21, 2013, 6:54 AM EST ... decision making have been apparent throughout his career, with little improvement. ... He also gets the ball out when there is pressure, and a lot of times make a play or giv

All the little dishes were awesome, I think as a group we tried everything and there is no complaints at all! ..... They are round sweet rice balls filled with red bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds. ... Give David N. kudos

[David Stafford]

I know this is strictly against Flarfist rules but....

I'm a little riceball short and stout

Got no hands and got no mout

h

Got no feet and got no gout

Just a little riceball

beset by fear and doubt

When you see comin'

run and shout

Here comes the little riceball

with nuthin' hangin' out....

First published in Poetry Magazine 2007.

[DKeys]

Google has clearly taken over the world---

Google Sculpting is now being used in classrooms. In his post ‘Teaching Google Sculpting at Purdue’ Eric Goddard-Scovel gave his class the following exercise:

Exercise: Google Sculpting

Open a new document in a word processor and then open a web browser. Using the two poems by K. Silem Mohammad in your course packet as examples, type a phrase (or phrases) or a list of several search terms* into the Google search bar. Now look at the excerpts from each search result (the text beneath each link), copy words or phrases from it, and paste them into the document open in your word processor. You will continue in this fashion until you have a fairly long list (a page or so at least) of selected phrases to work with.

Finally, sculpt a poem out of these phrases, changing whatever you wish so that it “fits together” (or make/leave it disjunct if it pleases you). Look for themes and multiple meanings of the search terms you used. Try to create strange, amusing, or serious narratives and statements. Try to find a tone or voice in the poem as you sculpt it, either coming from you or from voices present in the search results that you selected. Once you feel you have “finished” the poem, save your file. Return to it if you like, expand on different themes or ideas that come up, or do whatever else you feel you need to do to make it into something that you enjoy and want to share with others.

This process is very flexible, so feel free to open search result pages if you want more material, to change search terms as you are making your list of phrases, or even to abandon what you started with for something more interesting that comes up as you are working. The form of the resulting poem is entirely up to you and the needs of your poem’s style and content.

Have fun with this and enjoy the process of writing itself. The importance of this cannot be overstated. If you get something meaningful out of it, chances are that somebody else will, too.

* Note: The more different the terms are from each other, the more varied the results should be[8]

Not all seats of higher learning have been so accommodating. “At least one literature professor has been denied tenure for supporting it.”[9]

Question: Is the end result here poetry or collage? Robert Fitterman (mentioned above as a poet whose work predated that of the Flarfists) had this to say in Identity Theft:

[DKeys]

hmmm how on earth do you know this stuff DVS?  now i'm curious to know more about creating flarf....

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

This is great  fun, David!

Hope you find out who did this...maybe In-Seine?

[Suus in Mokum]

Haha cool!

[David Stafford]

Flarf....I did not know that. (Use Johnny Carson voice here). Well, this flarf has me fairly nailed to the wall. Love to thank whoever recomposed it. Of course, then I'll have to put a hit out on you as well. 

[De Villo Sloan]

David, that's Flarf - the poetry composed from spam, glitches etc. cut and pasted off the internet. That's hipster stuff.