Holed up with a filmmaker
and a crisis of conscience,
a cocktail tackles my story.
Sometimes a pillbug in a yard
can be more interesting
if captured, or microwaved.
But we suss out the puzzles,
the dynamics of weak points
in back doors. It’s a beginning.
for millions of locks,
circumvented by a master
key. Think of it as an
intellectual osmosis;
an exploratorium serving
up my business to the hilt.
With a little help, great water
leaks from the perfect ice
like a Mythbusters exhibit.
I’m praised for my ability
to mentally rotate tangrams
like a mapmaker, a Lincoln Log engineer.
No reasonable person
would discuss this story
on the record.
Go ahead and let them
plant the tomatoes
in the shade, because
in a hotel room,
there is no room
for the whole family.
Source Texts:
CNET MagazineFall 2016 Issue
-Article 1: “Growing Curiosity”
-Article 2: “The Snowden Effect”
-Letter in front of magazine introducing the issue and contents.
-Ad for 2017 FIAT 124 Spider (Car)
Method: This poem was an experiment for me. I don’t normally do much found poem composition. Just for an exercise, I took this CNET Magazine, which talks a lot about technology and espionage and education, and as I read, circled phrases that popped out at me—the moments in ordinary article-writing that occur to you as surprisingly poetic. Even certain instances of interesting vocabulary, I’d circle these words and phrases, and then collect them in a list. Then, I looked for a theme. Naturally, there was a very present Bond-esque motif happening, but I juxtaposed it with the education articles and advertisements to make something cohesive. In arranging my list in a series that made sense for me, I gradually crossed out words that no longer fit within my message, and used up the rest, until I arrived at my finished product. I felt a new sense of accomplishment with this poem, so I hope you find pleasure in it.
Bryce Johle is from Williamsport, PA, and recently earned his B.A. in Professional Writing from Kutztown University. His stories and poems have appeared in The Writing Disorder, Shoofly Literary Magazine, Essence Art and Literary Magazine, draft Literary Magazine, and platform Zine.