jealousy, part 1

you're imagining things what you're up to you're bad i see you hey joe relax sugar what are you up to he's my man all mine you have a great imagination can't you keep those two please joe you slut you're totally evil i'm trying to run a business here you think i'm stupid i see you smiling relax sweetie i know your sneaky ways but those two leave him alone "what do you want me to?" line them up you think you're so smart what you're up to hey joe they're getting out of line

on the beach, part 2

on the beach
can you ever

the waves
this morning
can you ever

under the window
helen
can you ever

the waves

"somehow it just happened"

this morning
i thought
on the beach

but why not
alexander
forgive me

alexander
last night
helen

helen
forgive me
under the window

flew away
i heard
this morning

please not now
the waves
under the window

but why not

on the beach, part 1

please not now
last night
forgive me

helen
forgive me
on the beach

alexander
the waves
this morning

last night
please not now
i heard

"what did you hear?"

last night
please not now
alexander

i thought
i heard
under the window

on the beach
i thought
but why not

i heard
i thought
can you ever

why should i?

but why not

shuffle up

a slightly different version of this post appeared on flashing by on july 24, 2010

randomly generated writing has been around since at least the 1920's, with tristan tzara and the dadaists. probably the best known example - at least in the english speaking world - is the "cutups" of brion gysin and william burroughs in the 1960's. all this is familiar enough to those with any interest, and information on it is readily available in the information age. but not much writing of this type seems to be in print - even burroughs and gysin's "the third mind" seems to be out of print - maybe the only full length book of burroughs that is. the reason? probably that it is more interesting to do this stuff yourself than to read the results of other people doing it. burroughs himself said in so many words that "anybody can do it." exactly. it seems to me that what any kind of random writing does - whether "cutup" or otherwise - is combine reading and writing. you "write" something and then you read it. and "see what happened." anyway, the exact technique i used is this. you could call it the "shuffle up" technique. 1) take 13 words or phrases, connected or otherwise 2) assign each one a card - ace, deuce, three ... 3) shuffle a deck of cards and then deal out the whole deck one card at a time, writing down the phrase assigned each one 4) maybe add a few random phrases or lines of dialogue let's try it a - alexander 2 - helen 3 - on the beach 4 - under the window 5 - the waves 6 - can you ever 7 - forgive me 8 - last night 9 - this morning 10 - i thought j - i heard q - please not now k - but why not the result: please not now last night forgive me helen forgive me on the beach alexander the waves this morning last night please not now i heard "what did you hear?" last night please not now alexander i thought i heard under the window on the beach i thought but why not i heard i thought can you ever why should i? but why not on the beach can you ever the waves this morning can you ever under the window helen can you ever the waves "somehow it just happened" this morning i thought on the beach but why not alexander forgive me alexander last night helen helen forgive me under the window flew away i heard this morning please not now the waves under the window but why not try it! it's fun - at least for a while. if you would like to become a contributor to this blog or would just like to post an atempt please contact: rpenmarq at gmail dot com