Rifling through this list, 51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences in Literature (via Buzzfeed) a poem formed in my mind by compiling, editing, amending some of the sentences.
I have come across this form by other writers. It’s an interesting new form in that it is almost a type of plagiarism (except I am acknowledging my sources), to create a new piece of work with words that are not mine. In some ways it is another form of blackout or erasure poetry.
Follow the link above to see which sentences I have borrowed and what I have changed. There are some instances of changing letters for the sake of grammatical accuracy, and I have divided up some of the sentences to link them with specific ideas or imagery.
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I took a deep breath
and listened to the old brag of my heart;
I am, I am, I am.
Sometimes I can feel my bones straining
under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.
Do I dare
disturb the universe?
What are men to rocks and mountains?
Folks say God crumbles up the old moon into stars.
The pieces I am,
I could see
standing there
leaning on the balcony railing.
How wild it was,
to let it give
them back to me
in all the right order.
an enormous, unmerited gift
given randomly,
stupidly
holding the universe together.
Everything was beautiful
and nothing hurt.
Let me be something
every minute
of every hour
of my life.
Let the wild rumpus start.
A Fullness in Brevity - Adam Byatt 
Without referencing the link, I think I’ve spotted Eliot, Vonnegut, and of course Sendak, An interesting (and nicely done) exercise in a time when it’s hard to have a conversation without being reminded of at least one line from a song or movie or book. We can’t really say anything new, and new twists come fewer and farther between. But – Eliot again – “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” Carry on!
Well spotted.
Some of the references were from works I was not familiar with but I liked the import and sound of the sentence. We may not be able to say anything new, but we can find new ways of saying it.
that’s the challenge we have taken
All my favorites are in your condensation. 🙂
Lovely!
Wow, that was really good! And I agree with some of the others–great find! 🙂