art is basically advice
People don’t need

a steam museum

go write an article instead
about the economy

serious work

no.

the path we are sure of changes
ceases to exist

 

saw the line breaks
teeny tiny font sizes
pictures not quite working

the whole lot
on infinite repeat
this song about being manipulated

you may leave a little story
the ministry of tishon
the whole

stacked up fish
texture of woolchicks
borderline creepshow

simply submit it
Wild Style

everyone else who needs saving
becomes the Poetry

Yaaalll…

it will be a great resource for them
they will probably agree
on which light
the tradition started

an independent party
a useful poem
a greater amusement park

 

Don’t worry about your lineage poetic or natural.

The Sun woke
the honey locust.

I’ve heard some say you’re crazy.

I’ve seen facebook.

I need belief more than
this Village Voice.

Belief

like your mouth
loud with a naked twist.

Hurry

Do art
Be treacherous
Yes.

This voice among the trees

every day

Tweeting

Being

bandits with poetry

Explaining
the new.

And it sounded like poetry

like endless rain into a building.
The Bones of flowers, from every day.

The sun was burning, one morning
loud and clear
saying Hey!
Go on
running.

You aint awake?
Why?

workathome folks
wanna be useful

they don’t get privileges

you’ll never cross a street
you know
success

not now just waking up

Go on
the day approaches

 

the sun said petulantly,
i can’t hang around here all day.

I haven’t come
imagining myself
an angel sent from god.

If I wake you up,
it’s just business.

 

the sun be about
his westward migration
all day

a thistle in the sky

over folks
over city
over ocean

sayingI don’t worry.

in that respect,
the ultimate hipster.

 

the tundra
the sea

the ghetto
wherever you are

a virtual world
space

a tea party
wherever you are

stay in costume the entire time

 

while running downhill
you think this,

there’s nothing to changing the world.
it’s the sea and one wave of pride.

 

despite the uncertainties
try

b/c development.
The thing to figure out

is the meaning.
It’s not too late, man.

whatever it is.

 

OMG WTF SMH
Wealth is the meaning of life.

 

the internet has bound our experience

all sorts of
folks
lookingdepressed

happiness is about craft

who wants to
click
and
ruin their image of purpose
and self-determination

 

i just want to say
i know im not fun.
i know it.

actually, i have
been getting complaints.

come
drink w/ me
friend.

 

warmthfelt

the texture of
someone

however the saying
goes

life = _______
why I’velong ceased to exist

hunger
nature

what makes me

 

tasting here the rain
wrapped in a lack of us

you are a tornado
pushing yourself
Here

where I am tonight
wondering what poems you inspired

 

The poems in this book are comprised entirely of words used in my Facebook statuses from the last seven years. They were created with the help of what-would-i-say.com, a website that uses a Markov Bot to randomize one’s past Facebook posts to generate new ones.

I printed thirty pages of “Tishonbot” posts, many of which are non- sensical, and began using the process of erasure to create poems. The erasures, while surprising, proved limiting in terms of investing the poems with meaning, so I loosened the constraints. The singular rule was that every word had to come from a status post.

The project is an extension of my interest in the poet’s role in cataloging language. What linguistic conventions of the day are adopted by poets? How much, if any at all, do poets owe to the vernacular? Specifically, w/r/t this project, what effect does social media have on language?

The project became, too, a reckoning with the limitations of my own diction as it exists on social media. It is essentially a “chopped and screwed” version of my personal (Facebook) lexicon.

Thanks to Kristin Prevallet and The 2014 Poets House Emerging Poets Fellows for widening my understanding of poetic form. Also, thanks to the creators of what-would-i-say.com: Pawel, Vicky, Ugne, Daniel, Harvey, Edward, Alex, Max and Baxter.

 

this is important.
he was unarmed after Obama took office.
they say equal and equal and equal.

Brother, my brother!
failed policies are powerful weapons.
voted on the same day
we are killed.

 

Reprinted with the permission of Well&Often.

 

•

Tishon Woolcock is a writer and designer who believes that language, written or visual, is humankind’s most vital asset.

As a poet, Tishon is devoted to cataloging language. His first poetry collection is The Letter All Your Friends Have Written You: Poems by Caits Meissner and Tishon (2012). In 2014, Tishon was awarded a Poets House Emerging Poets Fellowship. He is the founder of Well&Often. His website is tishon.com.