PLASTIC ANGRY WOOL

A Collection of Poems

Many many years ago, in my college days, my friend George and I (and occasionally one or two others), being broke, bored, easily amused with ourselves, and wanting to show off our prosaic prowess, created the Poem-Off. The rules are simple and follow thusly: Start off with a random poem about anything in particular to get the creative juices flowing, then the person with the "best" poem gets to choose a topic or topics (but no more than 3) to write a poem or poems about. There is a time limit, but it's arbitrary and loosely enforced. After the poems were done, they would be read aloud to the group, and the other members could offer suggestions or help the author to end it. Then another member would choose another topic, and the process would begin again. Most of the poems you'll find here are from those sessions, although the earlier ones I did in high school when I was idealistic and pining over girls I was too shy to ask out. A lot of the poems have been lost to time, but I managed to save some of mine, and even a few of George's. A small caveat: some poems may be offensive to some people, but that is not their intention. By my own admission, I've only written one really good poem in my life. But I'll let you decide. And I apologize beforehand for the first couple. And some of the later ones too.