NaPoWriMo April 30, 2013 - "As" an experimental poem

One of our exercises in ModPo was to do a type of Bernadette Mayer experiment with a series of found words or lines to create a poem. I decided to put all my poems in a spreadsheet, line by line, take out the dates, titles and spaces, and random order the lines. But then I alphabetized the lines and liked the alphabetical structure much better. For ModPo, I pulled out all lines starting with the preposition “to.” For the 30th day of NaPoWriMo, I am focusing on the word “as,” which can serve as an adverb, a conjunction, a pronoun or a preposition, depending on the context. All original punctuation and capitalization remains.

This is dedicated to all the brave souls who tried NaPoWrimo 2013.


As you depart
as you become narcotized by, then addicted  
as when of you I dream.
as well as the bad ones,
As we touch, as our lips meet,
as we stand before the world.
As we oscillate-
as we go our way,
as we go our chosen way;
as we forgive those
as we descend
as the lullabies you sing…
as the fleeting dusky twilight between
as the fittest for survival.
as the electrons collide,
as she wishes you peace
as she curtsies, daintily,
as she charts 
as she blows soft words into your ear,
as our plans oft go astray;
as our lips meet,
As our heartbeats synchronize.
As ordered, as planned.
As one, exclusive, all-embracing love---
as much as I do?
As much as hate fears truth, as truth loves light.
As men and women we thought we knew his pain
As long as I know I got a seat in the kingdom,
As it travels toward
as it should be read, slowly, with slurs, and sharps, and flats.
As it is, and as it ought to be
as is Governor’s School –
as in this random moment,
as if seldom appreciated. 
as if one can't wait for the
as if neglected,
As I stood in line for three hours 
as I crossed Memorial Bridge
as her arms become branches. 
as defined by classic standards
as courage is to a soldier
As children we adored his boyish ways
as a young college student in New York