Open Source Poem: stalled but not over

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006

I found out what happened to the Open Source Poem! It got stuck when [name] at Daily Dose of Queer did her bit then passed it on to someone who not only didn’t do a stanza but didn’t play it forward. Boo, hiss, no fair! But no worries – although it’s been stalled for several months, it will continue very soon with the ninth (IX) stanza once a new person has been found who’s willing to have the bardic baton passed on to them.

You can find out what the Open Source Poem is by following the link of the same title above, which outlines the origins and rules of play. You can catch up on the entirety of the poem so far by going to this page on [name]’s site and taking it from there. She’s done a brilliant job of listing every stanza written to date along with their authors’ blog addresses. It’s a fascinating exercise and the hope is to write the longest poem of the modern age!

And please, everyone – there’s no compulsion, so if you get asked to contribute and don’t want to, simply pass the baton to someone who’s up for it. You can even follow the trail and ask whoever the current bard is to let you have the next go! You might even be asked more than once as time goes by; if so, fantastic! And I do think being asked is an honour. You’re being asked for a reason. This isn’t a chain mail phenomenon but an artistic (though not high-brow) and recreational one which, you never know, might one day make it into the Guinness World Records!

categories: creative