I geek on poetry in unexpected places (for example: this). Even more, I love poetry that was never supposed to be poetry. Suddenly: oops, you’re a writer.

Case in point: The New York Times‘ Alan Feuer digs into the NYC Craigslist Missed Connections and finds poetry in the listings from Occupy Wall Street. The words are copied verbatim, with only line and stanza breaks added. The titles are the subject headlines.

Beautiful Asian

I was all dressed in blue for a reason.
Standing in front of Capitol One Bank
at 6 av at about w39 st
on Sat Oct 15 late afternoon.
I was with my work partner
standing in front of the Bank entrance
when you and a friend stopped
and asked us a question.
I thought you were so beautiful
that I was speechless.
The Occupy wall Street march
was coming up the Street
and you asked us a question about it,
and then all too soon
you were gone and the air
seemed a little cooler
as if the Sun had suddenly
gone behind a cloud.
If you recognise yourself
please please please
get back to me so that
I can at least know
if you are attached or not

You are a Cop

I was only visiting the city
during the protest
was with my mom
in Time Square
we chatted about why
I was visiting
and where I was from.
I wanted to ask you
for your number
for a good last hoorah before I left…
but I chicken out.

Hoyt/Schermerhorn G

This weekend.
You had
an occupy wall street poster.
I had
a book.

Librarian at Occupy Wall Street

You seem pretty great.
It seemed like a bad idea
to even attempt to flirt
when you’re trying to do
something substantive like that,
so I thought I’d just post here.
Just in case you might see it.

Occupy Rosa Mexicano

Hi Rebecca,
Do you want
to
get
a
drink sometime?
Jonathan

More here.

Open letters to punctuation marks.

Ships that pass is a Tumblr of “fake, imagined, and literary missed connections posted to Craigslist and then re-posted here with real and actual responses to fake, imagined, and literary missed connections.”

Alex Epstein’s 3 micro stories over at The Outlet are worth a read.

“This is Just to Say That I’m Tired of Sharing an Apartment With William Carlos Williams.”

An interesting note on who reads bestsellers from The Rumpus:

“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.”

The Nervous Breakdown talks experimental fiction.

Aaaand because this is so SCRUMPTIOUS that I have no choice but to share, here is…Jane Austen’s Fight Club: Read more »

Yum.

I would totally read a novel based on Craigslist Missed Connections.

I would also totally enjoy book reports made out of cake. (See left.)

Teenagers on Salinger.

Interlinked short stories via geocaches.

For you book design lovers: 45 beautifully designed book covers and classic titles turned into cigarette packs.

Finnegan’s Wank.

McSweeney’s reimagines The Baby-sitter’s Club for the new decade.

How to be a literary manboy of New York City.

Aaand to get you through the rest of your week: the ultimate graphic novel, in six panels: Read more »