Last Thursday Chuck Rybak, a colleague from UWGB, read some of his poetry at the St. Norbert College English Discipline’s literary awards event. His poetry was wonderful: honestly attentive to the small realities of adult life, and often genuinely funny—which is not a phrase we get to apply to poetry often enough.

One of Chuck’s poems, however, stood out as something the digital humanities community would enjoy. It’s a remix of John Keats using CAPTCHA words. The result is absurd but funny and oddly insightful into our lives on the web. I asked Chuck if I could share it, and he generously sent it to me and said to consider it “open source.”

I hope you enjoy as much as I did:

John Keats, Asked to Type in a Word Verification, Fears That He May Cease to Be When I have fears that I may cease to be Before I’ve typed doedwat or sesessto, Before high-plahsi closps, in preaderi, Hold like rich cuchcomb the full mittaloo; When I behold, upon the hork’s starred bushmer, Huge woresmick caties of a high grubnit, And think that I may never live to kaxber Their mearshmee, with the nullfu hand of squilt; And when I feel, fair saphan of a fuggi, That I shall never boxynalp thee more, Never have cocta in the valoggi Of vocutebob love—then on the splnor Of the wide whiza I stand oovicks, and think, Till flesh and blood to cursorness do sink. Chuck Rybak |1136 Hill Drive | Oneida, WI 54155 | rybakc@uwgb.edu