My sister was telling me about a poet she listened to at a live event. The poet said she would speed-read a book and pick out words at random, and then work the words into a poem. I don’t wish to try that, but here is a sentence I read in a presentation recently:
“Validation strategy will be achieved through a series of tests on the components and the system in representative conditions and scenarios.”
Wonderfully poetic, isn’t it? Well, I’m not going to make a habit of this, but I thought it would be fun to work those words, in order, into a poem…
My soul surrendered in the woods
a night of wilful degradation
unrobed, by unseen hands caressed
in ecstasy such validation
Pure folly is my pleasure’s guide
unthinking strategy for bliss
not cold not fear I shiver with
each touch and unconsenting kiss
I will be lost before I’m found
my sweet immoral goal achieved
through the forest runs my path
none other’s walked for none’s believed
A silence loud with gnarling cracks
in sombre series bark by bark
whipped by branches, scratched by thorns
I suffer gladly in the dark
A trail of wood chips velvet soft
and crisply sharp! it tests my feet!
on tiptoes swift I’m undeterred
each cut a titillating treat
The tender flesh that dresses me
is stripped away – components bare
I’m spinning, spinning, whirling gears
and sparking fires here and there
The heat my oily system loves
I bathe in flames’ inconstant light
a steamy representative
a mechanism hot and bright
The conflagration running wild
conditions so exhilarating –
my chains and pistons pound and race –
but in the end debilitating
Pure folly is this death defiance
I visualise scenarios
in which my metal hardware melts!
but once again my flesh regrows
Francis James Franklin (Alina Meridon) 
Beautiful and passionate!
Ah, thank you.