Novel Lines 101: 101 alphabetical poems, each riffing on the opening line of a postmodern novel or metafiction.
Antonio Lobo Antunes, Act of the Damned (opening lines; trans, Richard Zenith)
On the second Wednesday of September, 1925, I arrived at the office at ten-past nine. I remember this not because I have an exceptional memory or keep a diary (I stay away from pussyshit nonsense like diaries and poems) but because it was my last day of work before we fled to Spain.
09 / 09 — cycle compleat (niner niner)
Yep, a Wednesday for sure
That ’25 cent pussyshit nonsense
poems stuck on “17”
Aha, suk’cess (slurp)
busy’ness, ahh, mater·I·al
ass’pect of life, yah?
We’re vibrating crazy 8’s
up here baby, star-power
No pot shots, pls
(Bye bye sell sell, ffs)
Good luck dumb luck, un-
luck one duck we’ve left
Sara K.O.
It’s ten-past nine
(hun’erd years hence
well almost)
Put a tenner on “19”
No input no in-
coming, pls
Poet, your time has come