Google Poetics

Warning: Addictive

Google Poetics is born when Google autocomplete suggestions are viewed as poems.

Google’s algorithm offers searches after just a few keystrokes when typing in the search box, in an attempt to predict what the user wants to type. The combination of these suggestions can be funny, absurd, dadaistic - and sometimes even deeply moving.

There is, however, more to these poems than just the occasional chuckle. The Google autocomplete suggestions are based on previous searches by actual people all around the world. In the cold blue glow of their computer screens, they ask “why am I alone” and “why do fat girls have high standards”. They wonder how to roll a joint and whether it is too early to say “I love you”. They seek information on ninjas, cannibals, and Rihanna, and sometimes they just ask “am I better off dead?”

See some recent ones on the website here
Now try your own and email them screenshots. General screenshot instructions: http://take-a-screenshot.org/ Snipping tool is good if you have Windows 7.

Aim for poetic results. Avoid common, trite phrases such as ones including the word “lyrics”.
Read yours out loud first.

Email address for submissions is english@googlepoetics.com. Their aim is to publish all the poems that they like.

Maybe a phrase or phrase couplet will spark a longer poem.