Everybody knows those magnetic poetry kits that let you form poems with magnetic words on your refrigerator. This projects lets you do the same thing on the web. You can move the words by dragging them around on the screen and form whatever poem that you like.

What makes it extra cool is that it's persistent. Thus, everyone sees the same window in their browser. So if they move a word, you will see the word move, also—in real time! I thought something like this would be great for a community-_base_d site. In this way, you have an instant audience for your poetic creations and can enjoy those of your peers.

Check out the _link_ here!

I think the essentially interesting thing about these magnetic poetry kits with words or word-bits on each one, is the constraint. You can of course buy magnets which are just alphabetic, just lots of a's, lots of b's, lots of blanks, etc, etc, but then you can just write anything. With magnetic poetry, you're limited to the words in the set that you happened to buy.

Haha! I think its great that the first creation left on the fridge was this:



Perfect! :oops:

I knew we might head down this path! hock:

Didn't know it would be so soon!

Here we go, whose is this? Who left I came across it today!



That's more like it. I like. I like.

I really can't get enough of this thing. It just reminds me of how much fun it is to play with words!

Found this on the net, from Laurable's Poetry Weblog:

Back in 1997, Robert Pinsky, who also happens to be Slate Magazine's poetry editor, was a guest on Talk of the Nation's show about Magnetic Poetry. Robert Pinsky, in his usual form, was very generous regarding the phenomena, even after several caller voiced their aversion and disgust. While some enthusiasts were calling in, most people seemed to think some damage was being done to Poetry itself. And then there were the callers upset for the tendency of magetic poetry to attract erotic topics. I was so pleased when Robert Pinsky pointed out that it could be argued the very beginnings of poetry came about with erotic intentions.

Who cares--is my initial reaction; it's just too much fun. Here's one I found on the fridge door (not my creation):

Another one found on the fridge: