Game Time

Here's a new game I made up. Of the following blocks of text, two are recent Missed Connection postings from Grand Rapids' Craigslist page, of which I've altered only the line breaks, capitalization, and punctuation (to maximize poetic value), and the other is an actual poem by John Berryman. You decide which is which. Go!

Number One

I saw you recently

at Meijer in your Saturn. There was a little girl

in the back seat.

Anyway.

I'd like to be your baby daddy.

I think I love you.

No--

actually I know I do.

If you think this is you, please respond to me.

I'll buy you food and we can go see Eclipse together.

You look like the Twilight type.

Number Two

They pointed me out on the highway, and they said
'That man has a curious way of holding his head.'

They pointed me out on the beach; they said 'That man
Will never become as we are, try as he can.'

They pointed me out at the station, and the guard
Looked at me twice, thrice, thoughtfully & hard.

I took the same train that the others took,
To the same place. Were it not for that look
And those words, we were all of us the same.
I studied merely maps. I tried to name
The effects of motion on the travellers,
I watched the couple I could see, the curse
And blessings of that couple, their destination,
The deception practised on them at the station,
Their courage. When the train stopped and they knew
The end of their journey, I descended too.

Number Three

We were in line together.

The guy ahead was soooo slooooow.

You sneezed. We talked.

We smiled together.

Would be nice to see you again.