Challenge:

Nouns swapped for randomly-selected words from the book I’ve just finished: Deaf Sentence by David Lodge. Just because it’s near me and it’s Friday and I’m in bed.

Original:

Kid Freak

You’re a dingy freak with opium claws.
Liquid stress, clever words scattering in the gutter.
Pick ‘em up kid.
Scrabble in the dirt like the hound you are.

That’s the best face you got
and it’s crumpled, raw.
An unfortunate colour,
shirt scratching dampness at the neck.

But the soaring fists,
wow, you’re the champ.
A collection of pollutants curated
into skin and bone.

Happy happenstance has consequences
and your mother knows it.
Sex sold to a sailor
one gaudy Christmas Eve.

Oulipo:

You’re a dingy wine with subterfuge prostheses.
Liquid developments, clever cubism scattering in the hollows.
Pick ’em up kid.
Scrabble in the soft furnishings like the lower lip you are.

That’s the best garden you got
and it’s crumpled, raw.
An unfortunate poster,
precaution scratching damp at the interest.

But the soaring traffic,
wow, you’re the picture.
A conversation of bailiffs curated
into advantage and perfection.

Happy marriage has place
and your number knows it.
Excuses sold to a theory,
one gaudy conversational gambit.

Weird, huh? It’s bizarrely pleasing to do, I loved it. Particularly enjoyed ‘Scrabble in the soft furnishings like the lower lip you are’ and ‘A conversation of bailiffs curated into advantage and perfection’. Nonsense is so satisfying to play with. And the original began life in my hellopoetry.com corpus, so that in itself was essentially nonsense.

Will do the dictionary version (replace each noun with the one to be found seven places on in the dictionary) when it calls to me.

Shalom.