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Spam as Poetry
ayahner writes "My spam filter receives about 500/wk, and within those frisky messages, among the pulp and porn, comes some pretty daring poetry. So instead of simply removing the spam, I have decided to peruse my spam library and use the best to spur my creative energies. Do any /. members have their own favorites? I have compiled a few of my own, and expect to add many more over the next few weeks as a creativity exercise. All of the verses are taken from actual spam, and copied directly without modification. Some of them are nonsense. Others are real text of spam, delivering their message. When combined, they tend to form semi-articulate sentences. I see a virtual e.e. cummings here, an occasional Shakespeare there."
At this point you could probably combine random words from a dictionary and call it poetry..
I actually believe that this is how Mr. David Bowie wrote a few of his songs.
Though I believe beat poets such as Bryon Gysin and William Burroughs were pioneers of the cut-up method, where they basically chopped up other texts and then arranged the words randomly to try and create a form of poetry.
Not always the most succesful of methods, but led to some pretty fantastic works.
I've never had a problem with it. I've used a very bizarre email address as my primary, I don't sign up for newsletters, and use Mailinator to sign up for things. My address can't be guessed or harvested. What's your excuse for having spam?
I'm probably at the karma cap. Mod up a funny troll instead, it lightens the mood
This article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on May 1st. It contains several spoems written by the author, as well as a nice breakdown of the various percentages of spam types he receives.
I've seen these sorts of poems appearing alot on blogs recently. Even tried my hand at it when I had half an hour to spare. It's good fun. Of course, being a girl, most of my spam is about penis enlargements (twice nothing is still nothing people!), but some of the more random spams make for interesting poetry.
X-UIDL: ;r [200.181.94.68])
stubble relent standardly scrolls reverselyX-Mozilla-Status: 0001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
Return-Path:
Received: from mxsf30.cluster1.xxxxx.net ([10.20.201.230]) by mtao01.xxxxxxx.net (InterMail vM.6.00.05.02 201-2115-109-103-20031105) with ESMTP id
Fri, 16 Apr 2004 17:24:29 -0400
Received: from (200-181-094-068.bsace705.dsl.brasiltelecom.net.b
by mxsf30.cluster1.xxxxxxx.net (8.12.11/8.12.11) with SMTP id i3GLF5Fw053380;
Fri, 16 Apr 2004 17:15:08 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID:
From: "Thom15"
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 18:18:55 -0300
To:
Subject: With CD Cheap you are the Winner! yesterday bunnies
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
warrant prosecutor Richey units cousin
temperate rectums concubine novel tinniness
Valerie obedience disparity carbonate audiogram
incubated propounds carters mightiest Wyandotte
Melanesia reloads Tories paraffin brazing
Ple@se review our today's great offer elevated parrot honorarium urgings outvoting
denseness damsel attracted coarse supersedes
relabel Millie endurance carves asphyxia
packaged avidly block recurring Sutton
tinniest validation veers vagrantly addresses
shudder Stirling fragments munitions together
tracings diplomas deadness Sigmund graspingly
ensured wheel blackest eminently sagebrush
sig not found
Well, I'm sorry, I haven't seen any poetic spam. So I figured I'd tell you all about an interesting unsolicited message I did recieve one day. I opened a message from Hillary Rosen, and it said "We have detected that you are using Kazaa on your computer to download illegal music. Your IP address and ISP account info have been forwarded to the FBI. You can expect a knock on your door within the next two weeks. ... We'll settle for $1,000 if you click on this link.."
Yeah, not poetry, sorry. (I won't whine if modded off-topic.) But I did find it to be a relatively clever scam given that the timing was around the height of the RIAA's threats to sue people.
I heard a commentary on NPR by Andrei Codrescu a few weeks ago about spam as poetry. He said some of his dada-ist/nonsensical poet friends were jealous of the spam poetry.
> I actually got a message title "HOT E.E. CUMMINGS POETRY ACTION!"
> That one took me by suprise.
Obviously a fake. The real ee cummings had no key.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Spam always surprises me in its ability to say the same thing in different ways to avoid the filters. No, I'm not talking about the billions of ways to spell viagra with h4ck3r text, but actual nouns and metaphors.
For example, I know 'lay some pipe' wasn't in the common online lexicon before spam popularized the term (although it does date back some way). The latest one I've seen is 'expand your waterway', which is a pretty unique twist on 'enlarge your penis', I must say.
Any other bizarre, but understandable, metaphors, similies, or noun substitutions?
I got a spam on 9/11:
Subject: Tired of all this terrorism shit?
Come watch our girls take massive cocks.
http://.....
Check out Darwinian Poetry.
It gives you two "poems" at a time to read and consider. You vote for one, and the ones that get the most votes are "bred" to form the next generation.
I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
One of my e-mail accounts got zero spam until one day, someone I knew got a virus. She had my e-mail address in her address book, and yes, she was using Outlook. The virus tried sent copies of itself to everyone in her address book - with everyone's e-mail listed in the To: line of the same message. Then, the computers of other people in her address book started doing the same. As well as getting about 20 "virus" e-mails (which were particularly ineffective when openned in pine on a Solaris workstation), within a week I was getting 5 spam/day on that account. It's much more now, of course. Evidently, my address eventually made it to a spam harvester somehow.
Unfortunately, it was not an option not to give my e-mail address to this person, and it's illegal to use violence to coerce other people to patch their systems and install virus scanners (though maybe it shouldn't be).
Actually, as far as I know, Dadaism and Tristan Tzara came up with the idea of cut-up poetry. Though I can not find the text online, I once read a "How-To Write Dadaist Poetry" that recommended cutting a newspaper article of the desired length into seperate words, placing them in a bag, shaking it up, then pulling words out of the bag and writing down the words in the order they come out. Using this technique, I wrote Egging.
Class an left back. Warm tail star following.
Plain lady step story told. Write news middle modern does chief was got.
Stood end street word weight spot desire fix. Paid dream eight although wish.
Scraped off of a few spams, these all seem to come from the same source and have the same odd formating. Some of them are crying out to be set to music.
Wagon blow noon oil. Except food always were other follow push field fail. Again first country valley october. Thick was move heavy who.
Taken ill for poor member. She news fence anger class receive gray stick idea. Yard her oil row tought place. Am count share instead i warm settle cover.
Boys lead only throw press soil through thrown after road six. Iron could trust set held usual. Carry anger animals dance return stand six.
Morning bottle see often spoke. An ready wet try meet gather ago branch fill trade clean. Measure lay wagon suffer journey made.
Sometimes somnambulist about trembles, but wheelbarrow related to curse always plan an escape from dahlia about umbrella!A few pockets, and defined by impresario) to arrive at a state of insurance agentWhen you see over impresario, it means that of short order cook self-flagellates.Doug and I took behind fundraiser (with about snow, living with hydrogen atom.
Sometimes avocado pit over gets stinking drunk, but living with widow always bestow great honor upon line dancer toward!Unlike so many maestros who have made their womanly pocket to us.
bubbles remain smelly.Indeed, stalactite living with power drill a change of heart about stalactite over asteroid.around eggplant seek from carpet tack.girls remain snooty.Now and then, living with oil filter give secret financial aid to class action suit defined by.He called her Donovan (or was it Donovan?).
When inside squid daydreams, for demon reads a magazine.
If crank case toward starlet buy an expensive gift for ribbon for microscope, then defined by pork chop prays.He called her Foster (or was it Foster?).When you see living with corporation, it means that beyond hockey player gets stinking drunk.
Unlike so many taxidermists who have made their infected rattlesnake to us.
Full sign laugh serve direct join began something best. Electric caught smell ridden led there night cloth. Into sometimes wonder success cool advance hole. Wise whether saturday hurry gate walk. Double once walk various nine return height.
Blow black promise bag against cold believe famous seat no. Far drink around gain. Met while movement three so life i along joy toward.
Hello pain but low. Movement class sing miles count notice arrive army next. Easy follow means lone play hole tail divide another body form. Sign many animal arms likr aunt voice important ring. Worth wore deep fish stone still hand probably new.
Box wait fruit wall poor right of ago the raise. Can gives west many sugar face bean winter therefore.
Wagon blow noon oil. Except food always were other follow push field fail. Again first country valley october. Thick was move heavy who.
Taken ill for poor member. She news fence anger class receive gray stick idea. Yard her oil row tought place. Am count share instead i warm settle cover.
My favourite:
Q.
Insert Signature Here
Sorry that there's no way to reproduce the original typesetting. Taken from "AnOther E.E. Cummings", a nice collection of some of his less-seen poetry and prose (Ed. Richard Kostelanetz).
Come to think of it, those also look like Skinny Puppy lyrics.
Oh yeah, one little pedantic point that I just have to mention after reading some of the replies to parent post: E.E. Cummings never actually signed his name as "e.e. cummings".
The lyrics below are from Sonic Youth's song "I'm Insane." The song is made up completely of titles of 1950s pulp fiction books strung together. It's a great song :) This mode of writing -- influenced heavily by William S. Burroughs' cut-up experiments (as well as stuff done by the Surrealists) has always fascinated me; it's like a supernatural voice that speaks through the detritus of the mass media .... Check it out:
"I'm Insane":
Love starved backwood teaser farm girl hot eyed bride
stone cold blonde a quivering menace atomic wallop wholesale murder
we want out / we fish at night / sex in heaven / tough town / a cruel touch / sailors leave / sirens screaming / lap of luxury / a show of violence / take off your mask / lay off my brother / kiss my fist / stop at nothing / a steaming swamp / and a troubled heart / the sky is red / and i can't stop running / her baby stares / the secret's there / so help us god / i'll swing at your funeral / the stubborn air / the killer mob / a red bone woman / a double cross
big fake bitter love underbelly freezing jungle
one step more he'll stir your senses scratch your surface and nail your head
murded angels
bodies in bedlam
a women scorned
you can't hang me
tied to my job a blast scene alibi tied to a tree in a blind alley
nothing before / a big fear / don't get caught / by her father's friends / swamp girl faded / the tiger's wife / a frenzied love / hot climate / twisted passions / flesh parade / dead ahead / a world so wide / big river love camp / the house boy and hill girl / the agony column / don't crowd me / it's time for crime / strange breed river girl's misery index / inside my head my dog's a bear / she was significant / i'm insane
inside my head my dog's a bear
she was significant
i'm insane
inside my head my dog's a bear
she was significant
i'm insane
inside my head my dog's a bear
she was significant
i'm insane
honestly... i don't see why so many people bitch about spam... just don't give out your primary email address to people you don't know.... and no spame comes your way... open a yahoo acount... get yahooPOPS.... and if you ever need to give out your email to some website give them the yahoo one... in my university account i get maybe one spame mail a week, which is usually caught by their filter.... if you enter your email address in anything you don't trust its blllllahh@hotmail.com... if you need to recieve something from the site its whatever@yahoo.com... if its someone you know give them your real address...=NO SPAM... its not that difficult....
Does anybody know, what kind of poetry generation software the spammers use? I am working on a similar project since some years. Check: this and this.
John Lennon did that too, just look at "I am the Walrus".
As he once said...
"We've learned over the years that if we wanted we could write anything that just felt good or sounded good and it didn't necessarily have to have any particular meaning to us. As odd as it seemed to us, reviewers would take it upon themselves to interject their own meanings on our lyrics. Sometimes we sit and read other people's interpretations of our lyrics and think, 'Hey, that's pretty good.' If we liked it, we would keep our mouths shut and just accept the credit as if it was what we meant all along. "