“How to Become a God and Fade from Sight”

“How to Become a God and Fade from Sight” by Basilike Pappa was created from His Lady of the Sonnets by Robert W. Norwood (1915), Sonnets and Verse by Hilaire Belloc (1923), and Dissection of the Platana and the Frog by J. D. F. Gilchrist and C. von Bonde (1919). Please click here to read.

About the poem and the process of composing it, Basilike writes:

If writing a poem is a challenge, writing a found poem can be more so. There is this moment when you read somewhere a line that seems to have been waiting for you to find it and do something new with it. But even though that first line can be a perfect starting point, it doesn’t guarantee an end. A found poem may remain unfinished until you come across the second line that explains your choice to you, giving your creation a clear direction.

When I divided a sheet of paper into two columns and started writing down lines from His Lady of the Sonnets by Robert W. Norwood and Sonnets and Verse by Hilaire Belloc, I had no idea my poem was going to be about how to become a detached god in seven days. As I like bringing together incompatible texts, I thought the practicalities of science might make an interesting remix with the lyricism of the sonnets. In Dissection of the Platana and the Frog I found a zoology class study plan that gave my poem its theme and structure. After creating a first draft, I went through Norwood and Belloc again, replacing some of the lines and words I had originally chosen, making sure there is coherence and that the poem evolves with each step. Finally I remixed a title from my source texts, and “How to Become a God and Fade from Sight” was complete.