An off-hand comment by Steve Roggenbuck on Twitter caused me to ask, in a deflected manner, what flarf poetry was. As helpful as ever, Steve sent back a link to a video he’d made answering this question a year back. HERE
I only watched the video once and didn’t take any notes, so I had a cursory understanding of the process as described by him, which is, in turn, his take on what it is. So this is probably a very clumsy version of a process which may be unrecognisable to flarf poets at large.
My first go at a flarf poem was like this; google the phrase “dreaming on a train” (not in quotes) and then scroll through all of the hits that have phrasing that catches my attention in some way, regardless of quality, copy and paste these into a document in the order they are found. That’s it.
First Draft
To see a train of cars moving in your dreams
I collected trains throughout life, including original model from erector set made at age twelve
Dreaming of the great crossing with a coffee speciality
you get tired, because the train doesn’t stop until it reaches the next state. It’s the dream that kills you
Yesterday I visited my Mother at the interim care home in Kent
Sat in a diner as she sings the opening lines of the breezy and elegant Dream Of Me
Riding at night with your eyes closed
i had this weird dream lastnight that i was at a train station or somewhere i dont know where i was but i was sitting next to my ex-best friend
the train is you
Your falling off that path and the people you kno that are flying out
Usually I am on one platform of the station and the train is about to leave from another platform
wake up in a leisurely manner, as you might do on a weekend
blossoming flower of peace, love and all that stuff
I’m sorry, July. I failed you.
I could hear a story being written, but I didn’t know what it said
Come to Jesus now.
Let’s say you are near a railway station
You are doing multiple things and are distracted
The boy in your dream that you tried to save
one summer day far in the future I’ll step aboard the bullet train in Hartford
TRAINS ARE FOR DREAMING
She’d never like someone like him, unless he was dreaming.
I’m so thug You’re the only one I’m dreaming
I was not immediately concerned because the train seemed to be about 15 seconds away from crushing me
What is the meaning to This Is Like Kissing A Train
Dreaming In Oceans This Is Like Kissing A Train
You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don’t know for sure
I hear the trains coming, And the drunk man singing on the street, And the fan on the ceiling
Sleeping Like Superman
The train has become my sworn enemy
The smell of you in every single dream
I kind of liked some of these phrases, and turned one into an image macro with the image of a train on fire in a tunnel (train in a tunnel generally being thought to be a sexual dream image)
I wasn’t particularly happy with the poem itself, however and decided to try a couple of edits, first involving chopping out any phrases that seemed to be less interesting, and then in the final edit, changing some of the wording, chopping it down further and adding in some of my own words to try and improve flow and coherence.
Second Draft
Riding at night with your eyes closed
To see a train of cars moving in your dreams
Dreaming of the great crossing
Usually I am on one platform of the station
and the train is about to leave from another platform
one summer day far in the future I’ll step aboard the bullet train in Hartford
I’m sorry, July. I failed you.
You are near a railway station
You are doing multiple things and are distracted
I hear the trains coming, And the drunk man singing on the street, And the fan on the ceiling
The boy in your dream that you tried to save is sleeping Like Superman
Come to Jesus now
I was not immediately concerned because the train was about 15 seconds away from crushing me
wake up in a leisurely manner, as you might do on a weekend
Yesterday I visited my Mother at the interim care home in Kent
Sat in a diner as she sings the opening lines of the breezy and elegant Dream Of Me
TRAINS ARE FOR DREAMING
She’d never like someone like him, unless he was dreaming.
I’m so thug You’re the only one I’m dreaming
What is the meaning to This Is Like Kissing A Train
You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don’t know for sure
The train has become my sworn enemy
The smell of you in every single dream
Third Draft
I’m sorry, July. I failed you.
One summer day far in the future I’ll step aboard the bullet train in Hartford
The boy in your dream that you tried to save is sleeping Like Superman
She’d never like someone like him, unless he was dreaming.
I’m so thug you’re the only one I’m dreaming
The train has become my sworn enemy
The smell of you in every single dream
Final version
I’m sorry, July. I failed you.
One summer day I’ll step aboard the bullet train in Osaka and head West.
The dream boy you tried to save is sleeping like Superman
and you never liked someone like him, unless he was dreaming.
I’m so thug you’re the only one I’m dreaming.
I hear the trains coming, and the drunkard singing on the street, and the fan on the ceiling
and feeling that things would be better with you.
The smell of you in every dream.
I realise this is against the ethos of flarf, but I never was interested in strictly adhering to formulae.
I like the series of rhythms and speeds; the clicking through of google pages, the ‘metre’ of the phrases, a narrative pacing, etc. and the way the original version has the feel of a Burroughs cut-up text… I’m going to play with this some more, but not now, I’m tired.