OPE WELL...
[visual poem] [after Chen Chen’s “Craft Capsule: On Becoming a Pop Star, I Mean, a Poet”]
CONTEXT: Before reading this, I highly recommend checking out Chen Chen’s “Craft Capsule: On Becoming a Pop Star, I Mean, a Poet” because it’s very very good!
BEHIND-THE-POEM:
“OPE WELL…” is a visual poem of a well, with the italicized line, “since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot” used as the in-between layers.
Each word outside of the italicized quote is in brackets, each word representing a single stone.
Alternatively: books, instead of stones.
There’s no rope pulley mechanism in this visual poem.
For those who know about my housing situation and/or have ever been (or currently) homeless - you can understand why my baseline has been at exhaustion for some time.
Why the screams of “OPE,” you ask?
You can take the poet out of Minnesota, but you can’t take the Minnesotan out of the poet lol.
Lastly, I can’t not include this when it comes to accessing Little Free Libraries: my experiences are not universal (i.e. I’m white, and any potential discrimination towards myself at LFLs will never be due to my skin color).
OPE WELL... [visual poem] [after Chen Chen’s “Craft Capsule: On Becoming a Pop Star, I Mean, a Poet”] Lucas Scheelk [Why] [write] [a] [poem] [about] [it] ? [Pure] [spite] . [Allistics] [say] [that] [autistic] [people] [can’t] [be] [creative] . [Prove] [them] [wrong] . [Special] [interests] [save] [the] [world] . [It's] [less] [expensive] [than] [relapsing] . [Create] [a] [well] [foundational] [enough] [to] [obscure] [the] [screams] [of] , “ [OPE] ” [coming] [from] [the] [bottom] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [Let] [me] [teach] [you] [how] [to] [make] [an] [acrostic-spine] [poem] , [a] [format] [I] [created] . [Bouncing] [off] [of] [Nina] [Katchadourian’s] [book-spine] [format] , [an] [acrostic-spine] [poem] [is] [done] [by] [making] [an] [acrostic] [poem] [out] [of] [book-spines] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [This] [summer] [I’ve] [had] [to] [abruptly] [re-evaluate] [projects] [based] [on] [accessibility] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [When] [I] [feel] [restless] [I] [go] [on] [walks] [to] [nearby] [Little] [Free] [Libraries] , [and] [I] [attempt] [to] [create] [a] [book-spine] [poem] [using] [only] [whatever] [books] [are] [available] [at] [the] [moment] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [Results] [varied] - [some] [had] [no] [books] [available] ; [one] [location] [was] [inside] [a] [college] ( [thus] [not] [accessible] [to] [the] [public] ) ; [most] [were] [located] [outside] [residences] [or] [nearby] [parks] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [Common] [observation] [is] [that] [biases] [can] [come] [into] [play] [with] [Little] [Free] [Libraries] ( [example] : [proselytizing] [xtian] [texts] [in] [spots] [where] [there’s] [a] [higher] [homeless] [population] ) . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [Couch] [homeless] [has] [different] [challenges] [to] [shelter] [homeless] [and] [tent] / [street] [homeless] [when] [it] [comes] [to] [public] [access] ; [none] [invalidate] [the] [challenges] [any] [of] [the] [others] [face] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [After] [dropping] [out] [of] [college] [twice] , [and] [being] [rejected] [ten] [times] [from] [employment] [by] [my] [local] [library] … [poetry] [is] [the] [closest] [I’m] [going] [to] [get] [to] [becoming] [a] [librarian] . [since I’m not in a space where I can discuss the traumas of being homeless again, these feelings are being forced inside these stones and I’m going to pivot] [Why] [write] [a] [poem] [about] [it] ? [Special] [interests] [save] [the] [world] . [Allistics] [say] [that] [autistic] [people] [can’t] [be] [creative] . [Prove] [them] [wrong] . [Pure] [spite] . [It's] [less] [expensive] [than] [relapsing] . [Create] [a] [well] [foundational] [enough] [to] [obscure] [the] [screams] [of] , “ [OPE] ” [coming] [from] [the] [bottom] .
If you’ve made it to the end, please consider:
donating to the Autistic People of Color Fund!
checking out ‘Āina Momona to help with the relief efforts from the Lahaina wildfires!
reading Access Living’s “Guide to Basic Accessibility on Social Media”
studying up on, “Sorted Books Revisited: Artist Nina Katchadourian’s Playfully Arranged Book Spine Sentences”
reading Gabriella Mayer’s “When Eve Heard About Another Her”
bookmarking the Psych Survivor Archive!
studying up on, “What Is E-Poetry?”
checking out Tobin Ng’s “Cripping The Script”
pre-ordering Valois J. Vera’s “I, The Revolution”
catching up on Cyrée Jarelle Johnson’s good/better/best list for COVID harm reduction strategies!