Paul Baker
Unit 8 and Purport

Unit 8

light matter mistress myself object one perhaps question round she's speculate tales there to two way about ambiguous aware beginning call companions degree effort feel for gone harley himself if is.

nature of only person raised said should sprite ten there to understand way while yet accepted an away believed can confidence detained emerging felt force governess have his ignorance it like me moment.

never of open place rather saw should starting than they to unopened we whole who you added and back between carried consideration didn't end figure found great have his image i've little me more.

stopping that things to used well wind you affection apparently battlements bold catch could dignity even finest friendly greater he home in june little me most never of opposite point really seal sign. second sign storybook that think to used well window young young afterward appear be both caught could directly even first friendly greatness he home in just little me mouth new of or poor reassuring.

Purport

Those shoes sat in a shining box and attracted buyers from across the city. Those shoes could not be more cosmopolitan if they tried if they tied the strings those shoes were remarkable. A botanist called for a replacement. The student of journalism read backward. If the shows could not be a silence then more mustard was called for weeds. The widow's garment patched along the highway until the shoes came cycling from the opposite direction. I cannot imagine the embarrassment she must have suffered. I cannot be an ant if you are to be the spider. That would empty the remaining cereal and the guests would be unhappy. We cannot defile the covenant we cannot defy the government we cannot belie the fundament we cannot un-dry the laundromat. We can however invite the pilgrims from across town to sit and enjoy our hospitality in exchange for some news from abroad which they quite enjoy telling.

***

Author's comment: The source of each poem was a passage from a well known piece of literature in English, readily available online.

I cut and pasted a portion of the work into Microsoft Word.

For each passage I used Word's search-and-replace function to replace each space between words with a hard return, creating a column of words.

I then used Word's “sort” function to alphabetize the resulting column.

I then used the search-and-replace function to replace hard returns with spaces, creating new “sentences.”

To avoid having the words in every passage proceed in alphabetical order, I chose a random point at which to “snip off” the latter part of the passage and to attach it to the beginning.

In each case, the “Purport” section undermines not only the procedure detailed above but also the tradition of “commentary” or “synopsis”: each “purport” is an immediate, spontaneous, nonrational flow of ideas unrelated to what precedes it.

(go back)