2 posts tagged “poetry”

Today's vox hunt reminded of me of this mobile phone poetry competition that the Guardian newspaper in the UK used to run.  I don't know if they still run this - it is a pity if not.  Here are some previous winners and runners up:

FIRST

txtin iz messin,
mi headn'me englis,
try2rite essays,
they all come out txtis.
gran not plsed w/letters shes getn,
swears i wrote better
b4 comin2uni.
&she's african
Hetty Hughes

SECOND

Sheffield
Sun on maisonette windows
sends speed-camera flashes tinting through tram cables
startling drivers
dragging rain-waterfalls in their wheels
I drive on
Steve Kilgallon

THIRD

Pls, stop sendg msgs2ths
no, i am not linda,
I hv not slept w/yr sis,
+i wd nvr call any1's ma a slag.
Gd luk w/viag.
Luv, yr wrong no. xxx
Charlotte Fortune

FOURTH

Reunion
Slough Reading Didcot Parkway
my face flashes
between telegraph poles,
solemn as the passport photograph
no one recognises
Carole Bromley

FIFTH

Watch dog
Watch me,
or i'll be prowling my way
round your house of a body:
licking at windows,
stealing through doors,
trying beds out for size.
Melissa Terras

RUNNERS UP

Move
bed, u have seen some action,
doors, some slam.
Landlord, u may remove
every chip, scuff, stain: who knows
what reflections
old mirrors project in the dark
Melissa Terras

i w8 fr yr mesg the beep yr wrds of rude luv.
U mke me blush w
The curve of yr letters u tch me thru my palms, my eyes
Lucy Sweetman

• Special prize of £250 for the most creative use of SMS 'shorthand' in a poem. Courtesy of the Media Centre, Huddersfield and the Arts Council of England

14: a txt msg pom.
his is r bunsn brnr bl%,
his hair lyk fe filings
W/ac/dc going thru.
I sit by him in kemistry,
it splits my @oms
wen he :-)s @ me.
Julia Bird 30, Poetry Book Society

Translation:
14: a text message poem
his eyes are bunsen burner blue,
his hair like iron filings
with ac/dc going through.
I sit by him in chemistry,
it splits my atoms
when he smiles at me

 

I love the challenge of writing in "txt msg spik" myself (even though I am nowhere as proficient as most teenagers).  I am also interested in the funny abbreviations used in other languages, eg, cipika cipiki in Indonesian which expands to "kiss you on the left cheek, kiss you on the right cheek".  Maybe vox could run some kind of "txtin comp".   

Heard this song on my favourite radio station a few weeks ago and liked it but didn't think any more about it until I saw something about it in this blog.  Apparently the lyrics to the Aerial Maps song come from a poem by Adam Gibson.

I pretty much consider myself a global citizen and not into stereotyping by nationality (unlike some of the idiots on Sam de Brito's blog) but quite liked Gibson's explanation of the song:

"The sentiment behind the song is a light-hearted one, it's not coming from a place of glib nationalism, like the 'Aussie Aussie Aussie' bullshit. I hate that completely. But it's more of a sense of saying, 'hey, you know what, there's some bloody good characteristics that many Aussie girls have that I really like and I admire' - so I wrote a song about them!"

I also like the band's musical influences which include Go Betweens and Not Drowning Waving (probably why I liked the song so much when I heard it).