The Blitz Poem

The Blitz Poem was created by Robert Keim. This fast paced poem is made up of 50 lines of short phrases and images with repetition.

You begin with one short phrase or image of at least two words.
Begin the next line with another phrase that begins with the same first word as line 1.
Lines 3 and 4 should begin with the last word of line 2.
Lines 5 and 6 begin with the last word of the 4th line, and so on until you’ve made it through 48 lines.
Line 49 is the last word of line 48
Line 50 is the last word of line 49
The title must be only three words, with some sort of preposition or conjunction joining the first word from the third line to the first word from the 47th line, in that order.
There should be no punctuation.
A Blitz is read very quickly, pausing only to breathe.

When writing a blitz poem, it seems to help if you write it as quickly as possible. It makes me think of those word association tests psychiatrists are reported to use. This is the most fun I’ve had with a poetry form yet. :-)

World and Above

Around the block
Around the world
World apart
World’s away
Away from here
Away from you
You and I
You gotta be kidding
Kidding around
Kidding aside
Aside from this
Aside from that
That isn’t right
That might be wrong
Wrong word
Wrong way
Way in
Way out
Out of sight
Out of mind
Mind your manners
Mind your tongue
Tongue in groove
Tongue of a shoe
Shoe shopping
Shoe a horse
Horse of course
Horse of a different colour
Colour me blue
Colour me red
Red as a rose
Red moon at night
Night of secrets
Night of the dead
Dead a bit
Dead enough
Enough of this
Enough already
Already it goes
Already it comes
Comes the horseman
Comes the dawn
Dawn of time
Dawn of man
Man and woman
Man above
Above the clouds
Above the earth
Earth
Clouds