Thelonious Magpie: A Book of Found Poems

By Grace Andreacchi

Thelonious Magpie flits about, snatching up all the fine, shiny words and refashioning them to her own taste and purpose. Then riffs freely and fancifully, like the finest jazz. These poems are taken from many diverse sources, including online forums, advertising copy, journals, letters, interviews and texts both literary and otherwise. Each poem is made up only of words from the cited source text. Some of these poems are great fun, some more thoughtful, sad, or even terrifying. There are poems about love and sex, about children, death, angels and animals. A book to discover the rich language lurking in unlikely places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9781446125052

Grace Andreacchi

Grace Andreacchi was born and raised in New York City but has lived on the far side of the great ocean for many years—sometimes in Paris, sometimes Berlin, and nowadays in London. Works include the novels Scarabocchio and Poetry and Fear (Andromache Books), Give my Heart Ease, which received the New American Writing Award, and Music for Glass Orchestra. Stories and poetry appear in both online and print journals. Her work can be viewed at graceandreacchi.com. 

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Copyright © 2024 by Grace Andreacchi

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity of persons, places or events depicted herein to actual persons, places or events is purely coincidental.

Acknowledgements: Many of these poems first appeared in Verbatim Poetry Magazine.

For additional acknowledgements see the relevant page.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-4461-2505-2

Cover image: Magpie and Wasp, Jules Chadel, 1911, public domain

Design by The Andromache Fairy

for Mimi, who is poetry itself

Contents

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I. ANGELS

CONCERNING ANGELS

THE ANGEL OF HISTORY

DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON

II. CHILDREN

MY FAVOURITE FAIRY

THE HORROR

NEONATAL UNIT

N WEN U GET UR KIDS TOOK AWAY

BABY

THE GEOMETRY OF HAPPY CHILDREN

MY LITTLE SISTER

EPITAPH

III. PEOPLE

LIFE AND DEATH

THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

THERAPY

THE HEART DOCTOR

THE BEAUTY SECRETS OF THE EMPRESS CIXI

THE LADY IS A TRAMP

THE YEAR OF LIVING (DANGEROUSLY)

IV. LOVE

LIBER AMORIS

A HOLIDAY FROM TIME

DOING IT

THE MARRIED STATE

THE SINGLE STATE

ABOUT MEN

THE CORRECT ANSWER

POOR MR. DARCY

LOVE SPELLS

LOVE DOLL

THE ELECTRONIC CONFESSION

V. ANIMALS

LOVE’S BOWER

RANDOM MAGPIE

WHY CATS?

FOXES IN GARDEN

CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR REINDEER

LINES OF BEAUTY

I. TRAVEL

VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS

SAILING THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

THE FLOATING WORLD

APOLLO 11 – THE JOURNEY OUT

APOLLO 11 – THE MISSION

VII. THINGS

THE ARCHITECT’S DREAM

COMING OF AGE

ULTIMATE TEA PARTY

ENCHANTED DOLL

SURPRISE!

FOOLS

GERMAN UNDERSHIRTS

OH THE COSTUMES

VIII.  MUSIC

ON INVENTION

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

GUITAR PRACTICE

IX.. SOCIETY

THE PINNACLE

EMOTICONS

THE CLAN

CURRENT INTEREST IN THE CRUCIFIXION

HOSTAGE ETIQUETTE

THE LAST DAYS OF VERSAILLES

NOVEMBER 22, 1963

THE NEW WASTELAND

WHAT SHALL REMAIN

X. WAR

FLOWER BATTLE

I KILLED BIN LADEN

WINIFRED’S WAR

LITTLE SPARROWS

XI. PEACE

SALVE FESTA DIES

THE LEGACY

OUT OF THE SKY

THE BLUE MARBLE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

Poetry is everywhere. It’s a sort of game one can play, to flit about, magpie-like, snatching up all the fine, shiny words and refashioning them to one's own taste and purpose. These poems are taken from many diverse sources, including online forums, advertising copy, journals, letters, interviews and texts both literary and otherwise. For the most part I follow the 'verbatim' method, creating a poem out of an existing text via a process of delicate adjustments. Each poem is made up only of words from the cited source text. The art of it is to riff, freely and fancifully, upon the words as found. Some of these poems are great fun, some more thoughtful, sad, or even terrifying. There are poems about