STEP 2.9: After MODERN LIFE
December 19th, 2009
Matthea Harvey’s book MODERN LIFE, contains two unconventionally abecedarian sequences, “The Future of Terror” and “Terror of the Future.” In a interview with Tarpaulin Sky, Harvey explains how she developed the process by which she wrote the poems–and how the prompt led to some surprising results:
I made a list of the words that appear in the dictionary between “future” and “terror” and from that list I wrote a poem called “The Future of Terror.” I had no idea when I wrote this poem that it would turn into a series, but after writing one I clearly had more to discover. I then thought of writing the “Terror of the Future” poems, which take the same terms but in reverse order. I didn’t set out to write political poems—it seems like I must have, but truthfully I felt I was following the words. When I look back on the list that sparked “The Future of Terror /3,” I can see that I unconsciously gravitated towards words like “generalissimo” and “mourning bands” and rejected some other delightful candidates like “outfox,” “pilaf,” and “palanquin.” The formal strategy allowed me to address things that I hadn’t found a way to express previously.
Write a poem by borrowing Harvey’s process.
1. Choose 2 words, and look them up in the dictionary.
2. Make a list of words between those two entries that interest or disgust or bore you–or that elicit some other specific reaction. Or that are on the same part of the page, every 10 or 100 pages. Or develop some other system by which to select words between your two chosen words.
3. Write a poem that employs the words on your word list, keeping the words in alphabetical order.
Some of Matthea Harvey’s The Future of Terror and Terror of the Future poems: