Here at Tweetspeak, we have a rather broad reading list. It makes our lives interesting. And it makes for some unusual poem starters.
One magazine on our list: Forbes.
This week we’re sharing lines from articles in the November 2, 2015, issue—which we are fondly calling The Whopper Edition—that we think you could write some fun poems with. Give it a go and either use the lines as poem starters, middlers, and enders—or put some lines together to fashion a found poem. Either way, let’s see if we can put a little poetry into the NASDAQ. (Note that if we love your poem, we might feature it in our next Forbes Found Poems edition.)
1. Whopper of a Takeover, by Steve Schaefer
“For much of its history Burger King was something of an afterthought.”
2. Tale of the Tape, by Michael Solomon
“Her psychedelic Porsche, his rockin’ Rolls”
3. Find a Fatter Payout, by William Baldwin
“If you make it to the annuity start date without getting run over by a taxicab, you will get those annuity payments”
“A plan involves psychology as much as mathematics.”
4. Irrational Fears You Can Bank On, by Ken Fisher
“underweighting materially means you’re toast”
“Scant surprise!”
“I like the disillusionment.”
5. Game of Throngs, by Jon D. Markman
“Instead they labor mostly in anonymity and just vacuum up cash from the universe without having to feel sorry about wasting money on good clothes or bodyguards.”
6. A Rising-Income Portfolio, by William Baldwin
“They want to live off yield.”
“This is inevitable.”
“Stockbrokers don’t spend a lot of time discussing erosion.”
7. The Unicorn Boom Has Just Begun, by Miguel Helft
“But a bubble implies a systemic problem and an existential danger.”
“If you’re looking for growth, the unicorns minted in the last few years may well be one of the most attractive investments anywhere.”
“Obviously you can’t buy the whole basket of unicorns”
“The Chicken Little crowd likes to point to the new generation of Web giants.”
“The presence of so many unicorns is not necessarily a signal of heightened risk.”
“doesn’t lose sleep over the bubble talk”
8. Food Fight, by Alex Konrad
“Who’s taking your zucchini blossoms?”
“The two plaid-shirted thirtysomethings from the food-tech startup also discuss taking the purslane, an edible weed”
“IPads attached to each line track its pace and check for missing items.”
“they keep neighbors happy by plying them with free food”
“He ran afoul of his partners at one point by spending days looking for nettles.”
“The company has had to move facilities 24 times in just three years because it couldn’t properly forecast its own growth.”
“No one’s invented antimatter here”
9. Ford’s Fresh Face, by Joann Muller
“Like a child slowly waking to his mother’s voice the car’s LED headlamps blink on”
“That’s the new face of Lincoln”
“the rear seat begins reclining until I am fully prone”
“Every detail is designed to make driving this modern-day land yacht more pleasurable.”
“showing off a family of electric bikes that fold like a jackknife and plug into the back of a Ford vehicle”
“Some cars may even be able to valet park themselves.”
“the merger of Silicon Valley smarts and Detroit steel”
“there simply isn’t enough room on the planet for all those cars”
10. The $8 Million Pocket Watch, by Roberta Naas
“Meet the world’s most complicated timepiece.”
“Why would anyone want to wait eight years for a watch to be built?”
Photo by 55Laney69, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by L.L. Barkat.
Try more Poem Starters or Jealous Poem Stacks
Celebrate Poetry at Work Day, coming in January
10 Great Work Poems
________________
Poetry at Work, the Book—by a Fortune 500 Leader
Poetry at Work, by Glynn Young, foreword by Scott Edward Anderson
“This book is elemental.”
—Dave Malone
Download a Free Excerpt—1/4 of book
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Laura Brown says
Ooh, I love found poetry. Some great lines here. Purslane was my AOL screen name way back in the day.
L. L. Barkat says
Aren’t these just so fun?
Purslane is such a great word. I had to include that. 🙂
Laura Brown says
I bet you’ve eaten it.
L. L. Barkat says
You bet well. (Maybe you should invest in stocks 😉 ).
Maureen says
A Whopper of a Disillusionment
It’s complicated, the tale on the tape,
the surprise portfolio merger,
the takeover simply an afterthought.
It begins when he began
to lose sleep, dual iPads on the blink after
he ran afoul of his mother over talk
about the inevitable heightened risk
of 24 family ties to the new startup,
the company just begun and already prone
to irrational fears about the history
of splitting toast with Web giants,
the mathematics of waiting eight years
for a unicorn boom in the rear
of some rockin’ Rolls that would park itself
with its LED headlamps on.
He’d had a game plan, honed every detail shiny
as a Detroit steel beam, banked on being
Silicon Valley’s fresh new face, the income he’d make
track at a pace better than any annuity payment.
His would be nothing if not one of the most attractive
investments he’d ever risk for the planet.
Even after the plaid-shirted valet fessed up
to taking the purslane, wasting it on the bodyguards —
he’d imagined psychedelic throngs happy in the bubble
with their edible weed — he couldn’t forecast
when he’d put his partners together in a room again,
explain when he’d have time to make another salad.
The fatter the leaf, the more he’d have to labor on
underweighting other items, calculating
the growth of nettles against the erosion
of zucchini blossoms. If only he’d acted like a child
in good clothes in a a food fight, plying a free for all
among the neighbors. It would’ve been more pleasurable.
Those thirtysomethings on their Lincoln land yachts,
those stockbrokers reclining against the bumper
of a Porsche while he’d gone on point for a taxi,
he’d show them what systemic yield in the market means,
reason why to go missing in anonymity is an existential danger.
It took just that one dude crying Chicken Little
and it was sayonara to the basket of newly minted cash
he’d expected to vaccum up, to keep him happy.
There’d be no showing off now, but he would feel sorry
to learn that antimatter is all about psychology anyway.
L. L. Barkat says
Love!
One of my favorite parts:
“calculating
the growth of nettles against the erosion
of zucchini blossoms.”
Donna says
Maureen, I’m always blown away by your found poetry. This is great and it’s hard to pick a favorite line… after then one LL loved, which was also my first favorite, my second favorite image is this:
“Those thirtysomethings on their Lincoln land yachts,
those stockbrokers reclining against the bumper”
Maureen says
Thank you, Donna. This was challenging. I wanted to make it a story. “The tale of the tape” gave me the opening.
L.L. Barkat says
I am doing many tasks today that want distraction. Poetry is a fine distraction. As it proved to be last night, when I was composing poems from these lines at 3 a.m. to pass the insomniac time.
*
For much of its history
Burger King was something of an afterthought—
the way you always forgot to filch enough napkins.
The way a bubble formed on the head
of your Coke, and you judged it as fizz.
But there was a systemic problem
and an existential danger.
*
A plan involves psychology
as much as mathematics,
if you’re looking for growth.
But no, you were looking
for unicorns.
And no matter what language you spoke
or how you tallied,
you always lost sleep
trying to find a way into their minds
trying to make a basket big enough
if only for one, if not for all.
*
I like the disillusionment.
(No, I am lying.)
The purslane.
The blossoms of zucchini
flowering and unflowering
while nettles went unfound.
Why was it inevitable?
Why did we have to wait 8 years?
I fold my new face
like a jackknife
and plug it in.
You like my smile.
*
Obviously you can’t buy the whole basket of unicorns.
Where would you put them, anyway, once you got to grandmother’s house?
The wolf outside is (always) hoping.
Scant surprise!
We are glad you will take her the baked goods instead.
We are glad your hand is too small.