Puzzle poetry #1

Three poems in one!

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Welcome all! It's @d-pend here with a new series called puzzle poetry that will showcase different exercises for creative-writing which are fun, challenging, and experimental. They will require problem-solving to complete and should help broaden our vision of what is possible. Hopefully there will be decent variety in them, with some being more logic-heavy and others more expression/emotion heavy. If you want to try this, all you need is a pencil/ pen and a piece of paper, or a computer. (I recommend writing by hand, then typing it up.)

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Concept #1:

Three poems in one!

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In this exercise, you will divide your sheet of paper in half. The idea is simple, but also quite difficult to make work! You will write something that makes sense in the left column when read alone, something that makes sense in the right column when read alone (and here's the hard part!), which combines to form something that makes sense when read all the way across all the lines left-to-right!

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For example:

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  Inside-out | edge of the
 monolith | succulent
     perching | bladestorm
      atop a | whirring
podium | ignited 
   self | blast
  willed | by fate

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Now, if you take the left column alone, you get the phrase "Inside-out monolith perching atop a podium, self-willed." The right column alone results in "Edge of the succulent bladestorm, whirring, ignited blast by fate." [Note that these are not complete sentences but sentence fragments, and this is okay! We can take many liberties with expression in poetry.]

When you combine both columns (reading left-to-right) you get: "Inside-out edge of the monolith, succulent perching bladestorm atop a whirring podium, ignited self-blast willed by fate." Again, very abstract and fragmented, yet nonetheless containing its own peculiar logic!

So you see, while writing this way, you must be focusing on two "separate" phrases that combine to form a third! It's quite fun and challenging, try it!

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My results from the exercise

"Inside edge, outside core"

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Now I will show a completed piece created by this method. I made two short stanzas. Here they are before being expanded:

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  Inside-out | edge of the
 monolith | succulent
     perching | bladestorm
      atop a | whirring
podium | ignited 
   self | blast
  willed | by fate
 Outside-in | core of the
    molecule | animalcule
  of wire | webbed
 entirely | of ether
  imploded | embroiled
   microbe | tunneling
           of light | through dust

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Now let's see the three different poems they form:

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Left side poem

"In & out side"
.
Inside-out monolith
perching atop a
podium,
self-willed.
.
Outside-in
molecule of wire,
entirely imploded microbe
of light.

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Right side poem

"Edge & core"
.
Edge of the succulent bladestorm,
whirring, ignited blast by fate.
.
Core of the animalcule,
webbed of ether,
embroiled,
tunneling
through dust.

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Both sides poem

"Inside edge, outside core"
.
Inside-out
edge of the
monolith, succulent
perching bladestorm
atop a whirring podium,
ignited self-blast willed by fate.
.
Outside-in core of the molecule,
animalcule of wire, webbed entirely
of ether: imploded, embroiled microbe—
tunneling of light through dust.

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Conclusion

That's gonna do it for this first episode of "puzzlepoetry!" Really, this is just the beginning, because there are many ways you can transform your exercise into poems, but let's keep it simple for now! Later, I plan to turn this exercise into a "normal poem" and post it on Steemit.
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Now, it's your turn!
.If you do this experiment, I will curate your piece! Either post your result in the comments below, or make a post on Steemit with the tag puzzlepoetry and leave me a comment with the link to your post! You must do the experiment properly to be upvoted, just using the tag isn't enough!

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By @d-pend
10/20/17

Images are
Free domain.

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