OULIPOST POEM #3: Queen of the Night

QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

Every period of darkness between one day 

and the next--the time day of when no light 

from the sun can be seen and most people 

and animals sleep--she places the part 

of the body she sees with in a state of touching 

with the part of the body someone else 

sees with, in an attractive manner that flows 

clearly from the source. She does this with a group 

of human beings gathered around a common 

interest and settled in close proximity--

separated merely by the distance 

of an upper human limb.

Directions for the "Definitional Lit" assignment: "Select a single sentence from a newspaper article. Replace each meaningful word in the text [verb, noun, adjective, adverb] by its dictionary definition. Repeat this treatment on the resulting sentence, and so on, until you’ve had enough!"

Here's the sentence I chose:

"Every night, she makes direct, engaging eye contact with people seated just an arm's length away."

From "Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau on Acting, Improvising and Eye Contact in 'Queen of the Night'," in the April 2, 2014 online edition of the WSJ.