badrobotpoetry

 

As a fan of the Guardian Quick Crossword online and a poet, maybe it was only a matter of time until these two parts of my life merged. One particular interest of mine is the genre of found poetry where words or word strings from a particular text are cut and pasted to give a new meaning. I recently applied this technique to the clues from The Guardian Quick Crossword website which produced an interesting result. I then applied the same treatment to the text of the solutions, which gave a different poem. The second poem is bound to be less cohesive than the first as the available vocabulary is obviously more restrictive, it’s interesting however to see the resonance and echo between the two poems which although very different in style are related in this strange way. I treat the words I find as individual building blocks and like to use them with their original case and punctuation still preserved (Source notes appear in the footnotes of each poem)

(A=crossword clues, B=solution to those clues, i.e. 1A + 1B, 2A + 2B)

 

Portuguese charity Event no 13,045 (1A)

 

George Formby

performed

Funny business

under the stairs

with a large

Cloth cone

reverberating against

a Hollow Onion

 

Please Dance in the air

Showing Indulgently

Stupid behaviour

 

All words including the title were found in the clues for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,045 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 1^st March 2012. All original case preserved.

 

Solution BLURB (1B)

 

STODGY LEEK FLAN

UKULELE DULLARD

HOKEYCOKEY MOONWALK

RESONATE

ARMPIT

HANKEYPANKEY WINDSOCK

ASBO FUNDRAISER

MADIERA BALUSTRADE

 

All words including the title were found in the solutions for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,045 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 2^nd March 2012. All original case preserved.

 

festival (2A)

 

the Smell of Outdoor electricity

Corrupt Carol –

body of a cat

Symbol of a pig

Equipment handler for a touring band

a Reckless Evening in urban heaven

Sugar or saccharin

 

All words and punctuation (including the title) were found in the clues for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,093 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 26^th April 2012. All original case preserved.

 

SOIREE (2B)

 

WILLOW TRIBUTARY

POUNDSIGN SQUID

ROADIE REEK

WIRED WASSAILER

 

FIZZ GNAW TILT

 

DISOWN

 

All words including the title were found in the solutions for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,093 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 26^th April 2012. All original case preserved.

 

hormone zodiac (3A)

 

fleshy sex –

the sweet red dot

Falling South

 

Brought Female Gifted fruit

into the wrong relationship

 

Difficult Legal Announcement

 

The singing voice flakes On

 

 

All words including the title were found in the clues for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,246 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 22^nd  October 2012. All original case preserved.

 

PROCLAMATION (3B)

 

TESTOSTERONE TIGHTSPOT

 

NATAL PROMPT

BABIES LEARNING

TALENTED GEMINI

 

GROWN STRAWBERRIES TURN

 

ALIGNED

 

 

All words including the title were found in the solutions for The Guardian Quick crossword number 13,246 published in The Guardian Newspaper and online on 23^rd October 2012. All original case preserved.

 

Find out more about Winston Plowes’ work here