Consult the Poem Oracle

Rhapsodomancy, anyone? Let's get to the truth.

About six years ago, I was in London visiting friends. It was my last night and we were walking the South Bank after dinner. Near the Tate Modern we encountered a street poet, Joseph Marinus.

Before us was a “magic carpet” of poems as a kind of oracle.

Joseph is a street poet who turns the stories passersby tell him into poems; the colors of the envelopes reflect the emotion of the poem. It was truly a magical moment, and my friend and I spent a long time considering the titles.

Here’s what we chose:

Mine was “The Door.” If you ever meet Joseph and open your poem in his presence, he’ll perform it for you. I don’t remember that we did. I think we walked off for a while, delaying the reveal of the treasure inside the envelope. And then:

It was perfect. Every poem is a door (as are all art forms) to transition and transformation, wonder, and mystery. In choosing the poem, I consulted an oracle—myself. By choosing I called in the answer that was needed.

This is the ancient Greek form of divination called Rhapsodomancy—foretelling the future or one’s destiny through random passages of poetry. Bits of verse were written on paper or wood, dropped into an urn, shaken, and one chosen. Or verses were written on dice, then cast to see the answer. In the Roman version, a book was opened to a random passage, which is the method you may have already heard about.

Later that year, I was organizing a fundraiser for a literary arts nonprofit and recreated the poem oracle by printing about 100 poems from various sources and tucking them into colored envelopes. I chose one word that symbolized the poem and wrote it on the envelope.

(That’s a somewhat raggedy raven because I live in Baltimore :) )

During the evening, people picked a poem to read and take with them. It wasn’t quite the same vibe as the street fair feel of London’s South Bank with the blue glowing circle of the London Eye, people selling anything and everything, music and food, skateboarders, laughter, and the buildings lit up in multicolored lights—but, it was still fun watching people’s faces as they realized what it was—that childlike surprise—and their reactions to the poems.

Now it’s your turn!

Pick one of the links below, which will lead you to a poem. (You may have to scroll down the page once there.)

Take a deep breath. Think of your question. Don’t make judgments about the words below and think you know what you’ll get. Just click!

Remember Desire Blessing Death Woman Body Red Ice Loss

Joy Moon Orange Invitation Possibility Dog Money Journey

Breakup Flowers Ancestor Center Silent Obligation Interior

Once you’ve chosen, try this exercise:

Sit with the poem. Read it a few times. If you can, print the poem and circle the words or phrases you connect with in one color pen and the ones you don’t in another. If not, write them down.

There is a truth for you in every poem.

Even if the poem you receive doesn’t seem to make sense to you personally, wait a day or two and read it again. Journal about it. Write a poem in response, or write a letter to the poet telling him or her why the poem is and/or isn’t right for you.

Other options for the poem oracle:

• Try this random poem link and choose the “click for a new poem” button at the top.

• Distill your question into one word and type that word into the search bar at Poets.org. See what suggestions come up in the list of poems.

Here’s a 5-minute video on Joseph Marinus if you’d like to meet him (his part starts 1:40 in, after a lot of atmospheric wandering around London South Bank. But if you’ve never been, enjoy from the beginning).

Share what poem you chose in the comments!

Let’s take this further into writing adventure #2 in the next post.

Happy rhapsodomancy,

Chris