Modern poetry has drifted from popularity, and now exists sort of like that annoying friend you have on Facebook that shares their confessional works which sound like a third rate ditty written by a Sarah McLachlan clone at an ASPCA rally.
But poetry can sometimes still be quirky.
The Toronto Star newspaper asked two local poets, Kate Sutherland and Stephen Thomas, to take the most popular trending search terms found on Google and social media and make a poem about the year that was 2016.
That's it. No directions, no focus, no overly detailed analysis--no rules.
Just a poem, trending topics.
The two poems are wildly different despite the same focal point.
Kate Sutherland wrote "Year-End Tally," in which her rapid-fire lines add, subtract, divide, and multiply the year's news stories. As it begins:
Add a small boy Subtract a gorilla
Multiply mosquitos Subtract bumblebees
Multiply flames Subtract homes Subtract jobs
Add golf Add rugby Multiply medals
Add innings Add PokéStops
Generally, it continues that way until a slew of Twitter-like hashtags finish the poem.
By comparison, Stephen Thomas wrote "Celery Water," drenched in humorlessness, and as serious as a deadly diagnosis:
We are sick. You can almost feel your insides
kicked. In a darkened dorm, we reverse
and blast “Purple Rain.” Like life,
the guitar part is long, and we black out stranger things:
November 8, around 10 p.m. Eastern.
Scratch out this year, which “cursed you like a witch.”
Oh--it continues with multiple mentions of death and pounding and creatures and crying. The events of 365 days affects people differently, clearly.
Both poems mention PokeStops, though--so despite all the chaos that was this year, Pikachu and friends is what really mattered in 2016.
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