Titles as Poetry

I'm challenging myself to come up with a poetic verse composed of nothing but titles from books, movies, songs etc. Join me if you wish.

Another bullshit night in suck city,
true west, east side of heaven.
Girls gone wild parents just don't understand.
One flew over the cuckoos nest,
to rise again at a decent hour.

The Unnamed, the advocate, the orphan master's son,
under a broken sun.
They live
house of the spirits.

Surely you're joking (Mr. Feynman).

That's called a Cento, from the Latin word for "patchwork, and has been around a while, there have been challenges in the past to write them. It's considered good manners to mention the authors whose lines/titles you've lifted.
See this link The thread of forms

darkerdreamer said:

I'm challenging myself to come up with a poetic verse composed of nothing but titles from books, movies, songs etc. Join me if you wish.

Another bullshit night in suck city,
true west, east side of heaven.
Girls gone wild parents just don't understand.
One flew over the cuckoos nest,
to rise again at a decent hour.

The Unnamed, the advocate, the orphan master's son,
under a broken sun.
They live
house of the spirits.

Surely you're joking (Mr. Feynman).

Click to expand...

Interesting. I recognize Nick Flynn, Sam Shepard, that tasteless online video series, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, Ken Kesey, an awesome John Carpenter movie, Isabelle Allende, and one of Richard Feynman's volume of memoirs/autobiography.

I originally thought The Unnamed was Samuel Beckett, but I remembered that's actually The Unnamable.

I would guess that those I don't recognize are more contemporary and therefore leave me showing my age.

OK, here's a quick attempt:

• [1] Novel by Charles Jackson/film directed by Billy Wilder
• [2] 1950s horror movie directed by Gene Fowler Jr.
• [3] Novel by Franklin W. Dixon (Hardy Boys series)
• [4] Novel by John Steinbeck/film directed by Elia Kazan
• [5] Novel by John Ball/film directed by Norman Jewison
• [6] Novel by James Ellroy
• [7] Poem by William Wordsworth
• [8] TV series on psychic and other weird phenomena
• [9] Novel by D. M. Thomas
• [10] Film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
• [11] Film directed by Lewis Teague
• [12] Famous short pornographic novel by "Jean de Berg" (Catherine Robbe-Grillet)/film directed by Radley Metzger
• [13] Novel by W. Somerset Maugham/film directed by John Cromwell
• [14] Novel by James Crumley
• [15] Novel by Carson McCullers
• [16] Various, including this song by Social Distortion and a novel by Jay McInerney
• [17] Short story collection by Dylan Thomas

i like these! always fun to see a clever compilation and recognise/guess at where the titles originated

Cento Assembled from the Titles of Ingmar Bergman Films¹

The passion of Anna:

the virgin spring, the
touch, cries

and whispers. After
the rehearsal, the best intentions.

Smiles of a summer night,
a lesson in love,

dreams. Music in darkness.
Winter light.

Crisis: shame, torment.
The silence.

Scenes from a marriage.


¹ All titles are separated by punctuation. Bergman both wrote and directed most of these, but on Torment and The Best Intentions he wrote the screenplay but did not direct, and on Music in Darkness and The Virgin Spring he directed from another writer's screenplay.

I'm supposed to protect you from all this
Blood in the water. Manhattan beach--
Nobody is ever missing upstairs.
The dark dark
hunger

Sing unburied, sing.
Stag's leap
patternmaster
Spiderman into spiderverse.

Cento 4x4

Up up and away [1]
spirit in the sky [2]
both sides now [3]
cloud atlas [4]

On the road again [5]
roadhouse blues [6]
end of the line [7]
three day road [8]

Burning down the house [9]
smoke gets in your eyes [10]
eve of destruction [10]
under the volcano [12]

Sitting by a dock on the bay [13]
a change is gonna come [14]
Richard Cory [15]
lucky man [16]

Another attempt:

Sources:

• 1. Ernest Hemingway, story collection
• 2. Ellen Gilchrist, story collection
• 3. Ellen Gilchrist, story collection
• 4. Elfriede Jelinek, novel
• 5. Madonna, photoessay
• 6. Spike Jonze (director), film
• 7. Michael Earl Craig, poetry collection
• 8. Flannery O'Connor, novel
• 9. Arthur Schnitzler, novella

Willie Nelson songs Cento,
.
To all the girls I've loved before,
forgiving you was easy
good hearted women. Crazy
heaven and hell, how does it feel,
hot blooded woman?
I just can't let you say goodbye,
I should have kissed her more.
I still can't believe you're gone.
I'm so ashamed,
I already cheated on you.
If you really loved me,
is the better part over?

It should be easier now,
it's a dream come true, just as I am
my love for the Rose, our chain of love.
Sit on my lap, that's why I love her,
waiting forever for you, we look for love.
Memories last forever
and so will you my love.

got a bunch of book titles, now gotta work something out

first the thing, then the thing with credits

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
working title: John Dies at the End

As I Lay Dying,
it's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
and Something Wicked This Way Comes
Where the Wild Things Are:

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
plot To Kill a Mockingbird
in The Elephant Tree,
and The Grapes of Wrath
are not A Thousand Splendid Suns;

Invisible Monsters--
they're Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
and asking When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?

I Was Told There'd Be Cake
in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul,
but it's just Another Bullshit Night in Suck City,
Trainspotting in a Brave New World,
contemplating The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining;
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
and Nostradamus Ate My Hamster in Lunar Park.
It's No Country for Old Men...
It's all Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
but understand The Importance of Being Earnest;
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
maybe more The Baby Jesus Butt Plug
than Life, the Universe and Everything;
For Whom the Bell Tolls...

John Dies at the End.








The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
working title: John Dies at the End by David Wong

As I Lay Dying,
by William Faulkner
it's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt
and Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Maurice Sendak
Where the Wild Things Are:
by Ray Bradbury

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
by Robert Rankin
plot To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
in The Elephant Tree,
by R.D. Ronald
and The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
are not A Thousand Splendid Suns;
by Khaled Hosseini


Invisible Monsters--
by Chuck Palahniuk
they're Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
and asking When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
by George Carlin

I Was Told There'd Be Cake
by Sloane Crosley
in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
by Douglas Adams
but it's just Another Bullshit Night in Suck City...
by Nick Flynn
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh in a Brave New World,
by Aldous Huxley
contemplating The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.
by Aimee Bender

Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining;
by Judy Sheindlin
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
by Robert A. Heinlein
and Nostradamus Ate My Hamster by Robert Rankin in Lunar Park.
by Bret Easton Ellis
It's No Country for Old Men...
by Cormac McCarthy
It's all Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
by Seth Grahame-Smith
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.
by Tucker Max

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
but understand The Importance of Being Earnest;
by Oscar Wilde
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera
maybe more The Baby Jesus Butt Plug
by Carlton Mellick III
than Life, the Universe and Everything;
by Douglas Adams
For Whom the Bell Tolls...
by Ernest Hemingway
John Dies at the End by David Wong