mutants – Heraclitean Fire

103 mutations of drosophila

act up (preferred name: capulet) adrift always early amalgam amnesiac anachronism arc archipelago argos armadillo armitage arrest arrow asense atonal aubergine aurora baboon bag of marbles bagpipe bantam basket bazooka Bearded beaten path bereft big brain blistered blistery boule brahma brainiac brakeless branchless breathless bric à brac Bride of sevenless brinker broad brother of odd with entrails limited bruno (preferred name: arrest) Buffy bunched buttonhead buttonless cacophony cactus cannonball canoe cap’n’collar capricious capulet castor (common alternative name: ming) caudal charlatan scylla and charybde chickadee chico chiffon Chip chromosome bows citron clift Clock clueless collier comatose coracle corkscrew courtless cramped crocodile crooked legs crumbs cup cut dachshund daughterless deadpan dead ringer Deformed Delta diaphanous diego diminutive dimmed Disabled discs overgrown discs lost dishevelled dispatched dissatisfaction dodo domeless double parked doublesex double-time dreadlocks drifter dumbfounded dunce

Mutant poetry

Ever since I read Mutants, I’ve been mulling over the idea of writing a group of poems around the idea of mutants and mutation.

The human (and indeed animal) stories – poor old Charles Byrne, freak-shows, the Elephant Man, court dwarves, superheroes and so on – are interesting source material; the science is somewhat interesting and provides extra source material by its connection to natural selection, ontogeny, Chernobyl, teratogens; the general idea of mutation has all sorts of metaphorical possibilties; and the word is attention-grabbing.

One possibility would be a set of ‘mutant sonnets’. The baseline of an established form would allow the formal mutation of the poems to be made apparent. Alternatively, the language could be ‘mutated’ in other ways. And the theme doesn’t have to extend to formal/linguistic considerations at all.

Something to consider. Perhaps a trip to the Hunterian is in order.