STRAWBERRIES FOR BREAKFAST

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Joel Katelnikoff is today's Found Poetry Review prompt person. Basically, we're to find some text that we really, truly dislike, then find something within it that we love.

"Instructions:

1. Reread the last book that you’ve hated, committing yourself to love it.
2. Do not expect to experience this love in a linear and continuous manner.
3. Read quickly, ignoring every element of the text that you might detest.
4. Flag every element of the text that you are capable of appreciating.
5. Transcribe all flagged materials.

"The exercise requires us to see and to seek what we love, wherever we read. The goal here is not simply to develop new textual products, but to open up new possibilities for conceiving of one’s own creative process. The project is to shift our own perceptual framework, and what project requires more creativity than the production of ourselves?"

First, I have to say I find this a tad awkward because if I had access to some of the books I've read, or read part of, and hated, I'd have to dis them, wouldn't I? And I'm not necessarily comfortable doing that. I figure anyone who's managed to get it together enough to pen some sort of book and get it published is a step ahead of me. Also, if I was closer to the books I have at home, boy could I find some dillies, but I'm still in Mexico (another week) and, well, I guess I could go look at the books I pulled out of the shelving unit and stashed on the top of it when we first got here as I needed more space for kitchen stuff. If the  books went to the top of the case it was because I had less than no interest in them. So let's go see what I can find there. 

You'll note how I carefully arranged them so I wouldn't be able to see the titles. Pulling a few out just now revealed several NY Times  Best Sellers and such. It's a personal taste thing, I guess. And I'm going to stop apologizing now and find me some text I can seriously dislike!

First, I looked up some transcripts of Drumph-speak but it would take me until the middle of next year to find anything to love there.

And then I remembered this one: The Total Woman: How to Make Your Marriage Come Alive by Marabel Morgan. First published in 1973. I remember a copy of it making its way into the house a bunch of us shared  and how we howled, with laughter both amused and indignant, as we read bits of it aloud to each other. I was able to find enough quotations from the book online to work with the prompt. 

"I was told it should be geared to a fifth-grade reading level. I didn't have to worry about that. I'm a two-syllable person." said Marabel. 

All righty, then. Here I go, flagging and transcribing.

Strawberries for Breakfast

A candle loses nothing,

goes in circles.

When a woman is willing

she becomes beautiful, a jewel,

the days sunny, nights star-studded,

strawberries for breakfast, kissable.

Enjoy tonight,

a lighted candle 

before he comes home.

I saw, I adored him.

I like the feeling of my home.

Man, I was tickled! I wanted him!

I didn’t have to worry;

I’m a person.

Remember when paperbacks cost $1.95?

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