Picture of How to Write Concrete Poetry
This is my first instructable, so if it's bad, please tell me nicely. Concrete Poetry is the words of a poem going around something they describe, or they form it. Thought that may sound like a new idea, the Greeks were using it back in 2nd century B.C.E. The writing of concrete poetry has gotten harder because of computers, because you can't tilt the screen and start writing that way.

Please post if you don't like something!

Step 1: Choose an Idea

Picture of Choose an Idea
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Before you start, you need to think of an idea. Brainstorm a bunch of ideas that mean something to you. Below is an example of a brainstorm of ideas. I chose to use cake for this example.
The reason I chose cake is I own a game called Portal, from the Orange Box, and the evil computer gets you to go through the levels, promising you cake, but there isn't any. (For those of you who read the first version, my mom thought saying my poetry came from a game would sound stupid, so she made me make something up.)
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Sarah343 years ago
This is similar to what I learned in the free ebooks by Benjamin grove I think he called it .... ah I forgot, but I have seen this here: ReadandWritePoems.com
Quack :)
halo995 years ago
This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Aperture Science:
We do what we must because we can.
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead.

(Chorus 1)
But there's no sense crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake
And the science gets done and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive.

I'm not even angry.
I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart and killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you.

(Chorus 2)
Now these points of data make a beautiful line
And we're out of beta we're releasing on time.
For the people who are still alive.

Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa -
Anyway, this cake is great:
It's so delicious and moist.

(Chorus 3)
Look at me still talking when there's science to do.
I've experiments to run there is research to be done
On the people who are still alive

And believe me I am still alive.
I'm doing science and I'm still alive.
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive.
While you're dying I'll be still alive.
And when you're dead I will be still alive.

Still alive
Still alive
yes but what would you use as the picture? mabye GLaDOS or Chell or a ASHPD?
Maybe a the CAKE
grunter7 years ago
why is the cake a lie?
dUc0N grunter7 years ago
Play Portal and find out ;-)
minerug dUc0N6 years ago
The cake isnt a lie.
the lie is GLaDOS would share it
EnigmaMax dUc0N7 years ago
what if we're too lazy?
Darklin (author)  EnigmaMax7 years ago
Go to youtube?
...nothing on youtube explains why the cake is a lie.
Well I would play portal, but I don't wanna by it at the moment just find out why. (I probably will buy it eventually though) And yeah, I'd still like to know to... Any pointers as to which video/what to search for? (portals/portal cake/A LIE!!!!!!!!!!/...) I don't have all day
Darklin (author)  cornflaker7 years ago
Alright, just to save time, this is why the cake is a lie: In Portal, you wake up, get the portal gun, and do the challenges. Throughout the game, GLADoS, an evil computer, offers you cake if you finish the game. However, in level 16, a secret room has scrawlings which say "The cake is a lie" a bunch of times. When you finish the test chambers, you are shoved into a fire to be "baked".
I just rented and finished portal, great game btw, but I still don't see why the cake is a lie. yes, there were "the cake is a lie" scribels everwhere, but in the end, you get the cake. I guess it was a lie because glados attemptes to murder you, but you still get the cake. so technically, the cake is not a lie. just the promise for cake is.
Actually, you die at the end because the ventilation fans malfunction and suck you out through the roof. the scene where parts of glados are falling is because it (she?) gets sucked up, too. The last little clip of zooming around the passageways and into the "cake room" is to give a hint that there is a second portal game, you do not actually receive the cake. also, there is a cheat for "portals anywhere", and you can get to this room from the last level. if you do make it, you find that the cake is a hologram, you can pass right through it.
well, no one gets the cake, yet you are shown a cake at the end. so its not a lie; it is existent. the hologram thing was probably program errors, since you have to glitch to enter that room anyway.
 PLEASE PLEASE stop argumenting about however the cake is or is not a lie it just is a lie and there is no way to explain it in any logical way at all, the only way to actually make the caake real is to actually bake one yourself, there are many instructables on how to do it.
ahhhh thanks, sounds like fun, being baked and all lol Does sound like a good game though
Technically there is a glitch in the final level and you can shoot a portal through a wall, go down that long pipe filled corridor and find the cake room..... Is it a lie? Will we ever know? We'll have to wait till "Portal 2: The quest for the golden cake"
That video is a fake, the only way to get to that room is using the noclip cheat
I thought that video was proved to someone using a cheat, not a glitch.
its true. just look on youtube.
Gakki EnigmaMax6 years ago
THere is a whole walkthrough up there. You are constantly being promised cake and apparently someone else came before you and wrote THE CAKE IS A LIE all over the wall.
then you fail.
and you dont get cake....
Derin dUc0N6 years ago
where do i play portal?
minerug Derin6 years ago
I think you get it in the X-box multi pack called "the orange box"
or on the computer, wif steam.
NetReaper Derin6 years ago
mishka20096 years ago
hi i'm new i'm 15 years old can you help me around here
lol mmm i love breakin the law expect a paycheck soon jk :)
Sunny1246137 years ago
I read a book with sumthing like this
Stodo7 years ago
Well, you beat me fair and square. Have fun and hope you teach me some of this stuff.
eleraama7 years ago
"Concrete Poetry is the words of a poem going around something they describe, or they form it. " Be careful. A concrete poem is a poem in which the structure is as important as the text. Consider "l(a", by e e cummings, one of the most famous concrete poems of all time: l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness
Doctor What7 years ago
Apparently your mom doesn't know the type of people on instructables, but at least now your poem sounds like something i would read.
Darklin (author) 7 years ago
For every body who read the original version, reread the section on my I chose cake. My internal companion cube made me change it.
Doctor What7 years ago
great portal poem!!! the cake is a lie.
dang, it's not a portal reference... (he cries as he reads the instructable, only to realize that he made a fool of himself in the previous comment, and the reply comment that follows).
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