cav IT y 

s e a r c h 

f nDng 

there 

  S 
  
No t 

  h Ng 

m s s n g

When was the last time you had to negotiate a maze of disjointed text, words popping out of words, and cognitive dissonance just to read a poem? Because there are poems that cannot be “read” by the usual method of scanning, although some of their brethren may come to the party more pulled together. In fact, scanning such a poem may chase you away, as your eyes struggle to discern familiar patterns.

That’s why I liken the odd-looking poem above to a ransom note.

Ransom notes require your commitment to enter a place of dead ends and false starts. They’re designed to grab your attention. You’ll need your wits about you. Above all, you have to be willing to trust the poet, even one who writes ransom notes. Know that the poet has made your visit challenging on purpose. You may need to read the poem a second time, to be sure you “got it.” And even then.... The content could be political, even erotic. And so, the poet has decided to trust you, in the hopes that we’re all adults here.

I have a fond appreciation for puns, visual jokes, and unexpected juxtapositions in all forms. I also enjoy wit and I’m a big fan of quirk. When situations or people that initially appear to be utterly normal start to transform in curious ways, I find myself drawn to the magic and the stealth involved. This is the mindset I adopt when creating ransom notes.

The basic content of most ransom-note poems is either haiku or senryu, referred to as the source poem. What began life as a three-line piece gets dispersed onto the page in what seems to be an arbitrary fashion. There are several loose guidelines that I impose upon the source poem. First, I’m exploring different ways of splitting up a line, by letting it break up, down, or away. Second, I look for which words, if any, can be drawn out of other words, and if the new words comprise a phrase of sorts. I may also drop some or all of the vowels. Third, I may capitalize letters to heighten the ransom note effect. But here’s where intuition comes in. The landscape of these poems is guided more by “feel” and “a sense.” When I begin creating a ransom note, I have no idea where the piece is “going.” This unknowing can be fun!

Visually, what comes closest to this style of poem may be those written by the Dadaists. A significant difference is that the Dadaists typically used the “cut up” method to reassemble their poems. Ransom notes maintain their original order and meaning, more or less. But despite all of the experimentation, one factor remains consistent. No matter how chaotic or foreboding ransom notes may initially appear on the page, their source content must be an actual poem. You will know the actual poem after reassembling all of its pieces. Take your time. It’ll be fun. I promise.

Bio: Peter Jastermsky