Year 2933
(translated into early third millennium Global English)
The scattered encrypted chunks of retrieved data from The Great Internets Extinction of the 22nd century have been mined extensively for clues about the lives of our ancestors. Along with the physical dig sites, they were recently transferred to our department for literary extractions, as humans are preferred over AI for this work. While still sorting through, and having heated debates over what is considered literature and what not, we want to share some of our early findings.
We have restored damaged poems from the early 21st century written in the Global vernacular of the time. Uncovered in the physical dig sites, these poems were missing about 30% of text, so we studied the surviving texts about these poets to fill in the gaps. The restorers then fill in the gaps in a poem while assuming the style of the poet in question.
We use this opportunity to also call forward anyone who might have similar ancient texts in possession to share them with us.
Archeologia Poetika Project #5
"Frequencies of Chaos" by Joy Waller
One of the best preserved poems from a time capsule in a physical dig site in Ancient Edo of the 2000s. Only a small portion of the verse was missing. The restored elements are given in bold.
Frequencies of Chaos
original by: Joy Waller
Poetry archeologists: Zoria P.K., Mat C., Ryan Dz.
Mayhem behind the nigh shift
the smiles, the fingers
of the clerks
at the convenience store, flickering
Rip-off
at the gas station cum
discotheque — worst party ever
Shinsuke fails yet again
to score us drugs
and I lay down like a fucked up princess
beside the gas pumps
to calm my eyes
He wakes me up fruitless
at sun-up
with a cinnamon bun
and a paper cup
of coffee
WE GOTTA SUIT UP FOR THE WEDDING
JOY-CHAN he says
cackling
like an old boring ever after
[*scroll to the end for the original]
The artefact we worked with.
Archeologia Poetika Project #7
"Lady of the Wild Things" by Taylor Mignon
Another well-preserved artefact that we want to present.
Lady of the Wild Thin Line
Homage for Shiraishi Kazuko
original by: Taylor Mignon
Poetry archeologists: Zoria, Mat, Joy
10,000 ears take flight,
Cartilage cut the Indian contraband
Hear the stupendous succubus sucking
You to the shore of splash-fall
Paisley mutants, frolicking flock
Of seagulls lull a by, bye-bye,
Hello lullaby by the venerable Vogon
Chanted, mutually enchanted
Yr kanji voice body choking
The leaves of your kakemono
Are the fluent characters of you.
Walking into the Phryne
The whole works, like Anima Machina
As Medusa, a muse-maker
Cybele or Anatolia, the earth-shaker,
Athirat Sea of the Rays Shamallah
The all-encompassing, The ever-devouring,
You take us there, all the wackos, all the ways.
Who's Behind Archeologia Poetika?
Let's step out of character and come back to 2021 (the year of writing this post). Archeologia Poetika is a poetry restoration method of creative writing devised by Tokyo-based poet and ToPoJo Associate Editor Zoria April (Petkoska Kalajdjieva). The poetry group using the method was co-founded in 2019 by Zoria, Mat Chiappe (currently Associate Editor at ToPoJo), and Ryan Dzelzkalns. Other people who have participated so far are Joy Waller (Copy Editor at ToPoJo) and Ingrid Vera.
The Archeologia Poetika method invites us to assume the voice of a poet and write as if we were them. More specifically, to restore a poem that has missing parts. To make things more exciting, the poems are physically destroyed (burned, torn, spilled ink) and restored through group work.
The poems used so far were with the permission of the authors. Anyone can submit a poem to be put through destruction and reconstruction by the Archeologia Poetika group. You can contact them via topojo2015@gmail.com. Specify in the email subject line that you are writing to Archeologia Poetika.
***
Here are the original poems by Joy Waller and Taylor Mignon:
Frequencies of Chaos
Mayhem behind
the smiles
of the clerks
at the convenience store
Rip-off
at the gas station
discotheque
Shinsuke fails
to score drugs
and I lay down
beside the gas pumps
to calm my eyes
He wakes me
at sun-up
with a cinnamon bun
and a paper cup
of coffee
WE GOTTA SPLIT JOY-CHAN he says
cackling
like an old lady
***
Lady of the Wild Things
Homage for Shiraishi Kazuko
10,000 ears take flight, our
Cartilage cut the Indian winds
Hear the stupendous sutra call
You to the shore of splendored
Paisley elephants, frolicking flocks
of seagulls lull a by, bye bye Babylon
Hello lullaby by the verse libre
Chanted, mutually enchanted
Yr kanji voice body choice
the leaves of your kakemono
Are the fluent characters of your blood
Walking into the Phryne
The whole works, like Anima Mundi
As Medusa, a muse-maker
Cybele or Anatolia, the earth mama
Athirat Sea of the Rays Shamra
The all-encompassing, The Vierge Ouvrante
You take us there, all the way.