Summary

Copy and paste poetry involves repurposing parts of an existing poem to create a new one, focusing on themes and symbols to generate distinct meanings.

Abstract

Copy and paste poetry is a creative technique where a poet rearranges elements from an existing poem to form a new piece, often playing with symbols, themes, and images to craft unique interpretations. This method encourages poets to explore new connections and perspectives on familiar concepts. The process is demonstrated through transforming an original poem about love and self-discovery into several shorter poems, without adding any new words, to illustrate how the technique can alter the original poem's message and emotional impact. The exercise aims to challenge and enhance a poet's ingenuity and ability to see traditional symbols in novel ways.

Opinions

The author views copy and paste poetry as a fun and creative exercise that tests a poet's skill in transforming existing content into something new and meaningful.
Symbols and themes are considered crucial elements in making a new poem stand out and convey a different message from the original.
The author believes that the act of rearranging poetic elements without adding new words is a valuable skill that can lead to the creation of profound and heartfelt poetry.
Engaging with this technique can foster a deeper appreciation for the nuances of language and the potential for varied interpretations within a single text.
The author suggests that the process of working with copy and paste poetry can be both challenging and rewarding, potentially leading to a love for this particular form of poetic expression.

What is Copy and Paste Poetry?

How to use symbols to create new short poems out of copy and pasting poems.

Copy and paste poetry is exactly what it sounds like. It is when you take a poem and copy and paste its parts to create a new poem. Imagine the technique like those refrigerator magnets of words that people use to be early morning poets while their caffeine is brewing.

Except instead of moving words around on a refrigerator, you’re copy and pasting them in your word app. It’s best to transfer and expand on symbols, themes, or images that are showing up throughout the poem. Symbols and images are what are going to make your poem stand out.

Try and imagine new connections and ways of viewing familiar, traditional, or common symbols.

I’ll demonstrate below on my own work so that you can see how to make one poem into more. For the sake of the exercise, I’ll do more than just one so that you can see how to create short copy and paste poems out of one original poem.

The symbols and themes that I’ll use for my copy and pasting are going to be love, self, and failure. The original poem is sorta the opposite of that, so I thought it would be fun to twist the symbols (comfortability, euphoria, etc.) and create poems with a new meaning.

Original Poem

To look upon a partner and feel comfortable in who they are and what you two or more feel

is pure partner euphoria. There are many strong cases for the belief that being your true self will bring

you the love of your life. But what about finding someone who is their true self and loves you

for the person that is inside whether or not you’ve reached your full you yet? When you come across a person

who is wholly and fully themselves, living out in the wilds of society separate from you and everyone else, there is

a moment when something inside of you either soars or dies. It’ll make parts of you grow wings or curl up

at the sight of something so great. There is no such thing as a perfect partner, but being around people

who are true to themselves in the face of the challenges of the world is a heart shattering act of deep love.

Everything in the new poems were copy and pasted from the original poem above. No new words were added, only copy, pasted, and rearranged.

Copy and Paste Poems

For the person in the face of something so great, there is no such thing as a perfect partner.

Being your true self will bring the challenges of the world living out in the wilds of society across a person you’ve reached inside.

A heart shattering parts of you at the sight of themselves.

Whether or not you’ve reached your full you yet look upon a partner, a perfect partner, and separate from you the comfortable wilds and feel parts of you curl up at the sight of you in love.

This isn’t a new style or form. I was introduced to it in a class as an exercise. It was meant to test our skill and creativity. Could we create something totally new from another piece? Many of us did and left the exercise with a love for the form.

I hope you can, too.

Aigner Loren Wilson is a 6X Top Writer. Her work has appeared in P.S. I Love You, Arsenika, Illumination, and more. She is releasing a poetry collection, to be haunted, in the summer of 2021. For access to her Medium Writers’ Club, signup to her writing group.