Online Poetry: August 2004 Archives

I seldom come across poetry sites that I really like. I'm glad I look because today I found No Tell Motel. The editors promise discretion but I hope the word gets out. The site promises a new poet every week, a new poem everyday, 52 poets a year, 260 poems. It looks like the site is a week old. If the other 51 poets are as good as Jennifer Michael Hecht, it's going to be a great year at No Tell Motel.

Kristin Thomas has an interesting blog of spam poetry. Spam never has bothered me that much. I mean, Amber wants me! And even though most of my spam is filtered out of my in-box, I still read through the spam folder to see what's there. Then I delete it.

Kristin, however, puts all that spam to good use. She says she writes her spam poetry using only the subject lines of spam she receives. All those lines are put together into a poem like this:

Crazy Advice

Candyland, old times, new times, good times
Colon cleaner, sluts will love you,
Thou must medicate thyself.

Genitian, titian, titans, tits
indoctrination, doctinaire,
Getith thou prescription hereth.

Maggie Thomas, your xanax refill is ready.

The Register points out that spam often includes lines "of random, spam-filter-busting language which somehow transcend their mundane purpose and burst into the golden light of literary glory." Anyone who reads their spam has probably noticed these literary lines, often produced with some sort of language generator, but Kristin is the first writer of spam poetry that I've come across, someone who has taken those literary lines from spam, then used them in a second literary form. I guess it's sort of like found poetry.

But the interesting thing is that some spam is taking on a literary quality. It's always had a narrative quality. I just hope it doesn't become so literary that it moves me to respond.