Exquisite corpse (cadavre exquis)
 

Back in the day, a bunch of Surrealists created a compositional game, whereby each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence.

I'd like to play this game with anyone who's willing. Let's see what sort of strings we can create by following certain rules.

We can change the rules as we go along, but let's start in a straightforward manner:

1. Each composition may only be one sentence long.
2. Each sentence must be placed in spoiler tags* with the exception of the last few words (your discretion, but no more than 3). For example, if I were to write, "He used the knife to cut the apple in half," I would use spoiler tags to submit it like so: Spoiler: He used the knife to cut the apple in half.
3. You may choose to make associations, either directly or indirectly, based on the exposed words. Do not read the hidden parts of the sentences.
4. You are not permitted to read the complete sentences until we agree to stop the overall composition. Once we do so, we will string them together into one post for all to read.

*Spoiler tags are set as: [ spoiler] [/ spoiler] (with no spaces within the brackets)

I will start.

_____________________

Spoiler: Reading a book is much like writing, except the author in this case is dead.

Spoiler: They were secretly disappointed to learn that his was not a cold, lonely existence.

Not unlike the universe, Spoiler: evidence suggests the evidence is only partially extant.

Spoiler: Magic lantern images of automobiles careening through cold empty rooms filled his dreaming self

Spoiler: His dream-mother was screaming again, but unlike how she once did.

Spoiler: That was when she asked how much of the dream was real, and how much consisted of potent exaggerations.

Spoiler: Only provocateurs and the profoundly insane were able tosee the signs.

Spoiler: What was depicted was of Maginot Line proportions, concrete yet fragile.

Spoiler: The ice dagger left no traceable evidence behind.

Spoiler: They were sure to keep the bitch's finances at the forefront.

Examining carefully the evidence in the forefront of the behind area Spoiler: he searched her regions carefully, looking for earwigs using a forehead mount lamp a stethoscope a pair of tweezers and an empty peanut butter jar.

So we can play with the spoiler parts?

Upon examination Spoiler: the only signs of foul play were the briar scratches marking his feet

"But this is also unreal in the Spoiler: same way as all previous states of my being."

I suppose so. I would prefer a fair amount of restraint. The key here is to avoid leaving too much text outside of the spoiler tags. The OP said 3 words max, but I don't want to impede people's creativity. At the same time, restraints are a good motivator.

Playing around with the positioning of the outside words is interesting.

________________________

Spoiler: A reading of Baudrillard would be required but inessential Spoiler: to whether the present course would continue.

Spoiler: My instincts tell me to flee, Spoiler: my heart tells me to absorb.

Spoiler: Impossibilities arise spontaneously, even in the midst of actuality.

I haven't uncloaked any of the hidden messages yet,
this surprises me. Spoiler is a weird term in this context, it brings to mind cleaning out the fridge,
or something. Okay..onwards.

Spoiler: Hands clasping the frozen clock had to be pried from their kindred digits

Spoiler: But where they lie is unknown, and so it shall remain until the very undoing of the atmosphere in which they reside.

Yet, for several Spoiler: days, we experienced nothing.

Spoiler: There was no chance that those remaining who had witnessed the events wouldremain unchanged.

That poor cat...Spoiler: it was hard to believe that someone could actually do something so despicable, for whatever reason.

Spoiler: Sacrificially drawn & quartered, he nowrests in pieces.

Spoiler: The collection of the fragments were promptly put on display at the local museum.

Spoiler: where quentin continued his obsessively close examinations of various surfaces of flesh and varnish looking for earwigs and signs of decay

Spoiler: The stench was overpowering.

Spoiler: And so the weight of it became such that it was impossible to ignore the ensuing laughter.

Exquisite Corpse #1
 

Reading a book is much like writing, except the author in this case is dead. They were secretly disappointed to learn that his was not a cold, lonely existence. Not unlike the universe, evidence suggests the evidence is only partially extant. Magic lantern images of automobiles careening through cold empty rooms filled his dreaming self. His dream-mother was screaming again, but unlike how she once did. That was when she asked how much of the dream was real, and how much consisted of potent exaggerations. Only provocateurs and the profoundly insane were able to see the signs. What was depicted was of Maginot Line proportions, concrete yet fragile. The ice dagger left no traceable evidence behind. They were sure to keep the bitch's finances at the forefront. Examining carefully the evidence in the forefront of the behind area he searched her regions carefully, looking for earwigs using a forehead mount lamp a stethoscope a pair of tweezers and an empty peanut butter jar. Upon examination the only signs of foul play were the briar scratches marking his feet. "But this is also unreal in the same way as all previous states of my being." A reading of Baudrillard would be required but inessential to whether the present course would continue. My instincts tell me to flee, my heart tells me to absorb. Impossibilities arise spontaneously, even in the midst of actuality. Hands clasping the frozen clock had to be pried from their kindred digits. But where they lie is unknown, and so it shall remain until the very undoing of the atmosphere in which they reside. Yet, for several days, we experienced nothing. There was no chance that those remaining who had witnessed the events would remain unchanged. That poor cat...it was hard to believe that someone could actually do something so despicable, for whatever reason. Sacrificially drawn & quartered, he now rests in pieces. The collection of the fragments were promptly put on display at the local museum, where quentin continued his obsessively close examinations of various surfaces of flesh and varnish looking for earwigs and signs of decay. The stench was overpowering. And so the weight of it became such that it was impossible to ignore the ensuing laughter.

______________________________

I used the natural lull of the posting as a clean break for stopping our first run at it. Above is the result.

haha! awesome.
what is strange to me is that I had a very hard time recognizing the sentences that I had written.

excellent.

please sir, may we have another?

Yes, yes, I was pleased with the result too.

Any new rules?

Who wants to cast the first sentence?

Spoiler: Cantilevering across the causeways, the visions became speckled eels.

Spoiler: Yet no one dared think of them as slippery, rather, slick.

Spoiler: But the trick, you see, is how you grasp them by the tails.

Thinking fins Spoiler: Alfonso began to studiously rub himself with teriyaki sauce assuming that the transition between surfaces licked should be seamless as possible.

Spoiler: The blades of grass band players needed to catch their breath.

Spoiler: Putrid is insufficient when it comes to describing it.

Spoiler: There isn't anything halfway about it: there is a story there somewhere.

Spoiler: "Consider the alternative," someone soon declared.

Spoiler: More professional wailers arrived than were necessary.
It became a tintinnabulation parade.

Spoiler: The ringing in his ears was disorienting not only scrambling his sense of balance but also his sense of how objects were arranged in space relative to ear other with the result that he was afraid to make even the slightest movement for fear of falling down or bumping into something

Spoiler: Ting-tang, ding-a-ling! Ting-tang, ding-a-ling! or so it went.

Spoiler: And so it continued going neither moving forward nor backward nor sideways nor anyplace at all just frozen in place.

Spoiler: The brothers Rigor & Mortis, were having a battlefield day.

Spoiler: Yet this characteristic spike Spoiler: persists in her EEG.

Spoiler: From a distance it seemed so silly though, to think that one family's entire existence could be so intimately tied to three little words: death by hanging.

Spoiler: All this surprised Ludwig greatly given as he was to bouts of vertigo and periods of anxiety so intense that he was unlikely to go outside regardless of the weather or the occasions that might await him. When he did venture out, he required a companion, a safety net which was most often a giant stuffed rabbit named Umberto

Spoiler: How one goes about naming objects of an inanimate nature is largely determined by the semblance it has to the thing which it represents.

Spoiler: In the end, however, the dead stay dead.

Spoiler: Many were the times we tried (and failed) to stop the abominable course of events.

Spoiler: It was unlike those carnivals upon ocean liners, and those ocean liners filled with inconceivable delights.

Exquisite Corpse #2
 

Cantilevering across the causeways, the visions became speckled eels. Yet no one dared think of them as slippery, rather, slick. But the trick, you see, is how you grasp them by the tails. Thinking fins Alfonso began to studiously rub himself with teriyaki sauce assuming that the transition between surfaces licked should be seamless as possible. The blades of grass band players needed to catch their breath. Putrid is insufficient when it comes to describing it. There isn't anything halfway about it: there is a story there somewhere. "Consider the alternative," someone soon declared. More professional wailers arrived than were necessary. It became a tintinnabulation parade. The ringing in his ears was disorienting not only scrambling his sense of balance but also his sense of how objects were arranged in space relative to ear other with the result that he was afraid to make even the slightest movement for fear of falling down or bumping into something. Ting-tang, ding-a-ling! Ting-tang, ding-a-ling! or so it went. And so it continued going neither moving forward nor backward nor sideways nor anyplace at all just frozen in place. The brothers Rigor & Mortis, were having a battlefield day. Yet this characteristic spike persists in her EEG. From a distance it seemed so silly though, to think that one family's entire existence could be so intimately tied to three little words: death by hanging. All this surprised Ludwig greatly given as he was to bouts of vertigo and periods of anxiety so intense that he was unlikely to go outside regardless of the weather or the occasions that might await him. When he did venture out, he required a companion, a safety net which was most often a giant stuffed rabbit named Umberto. How one goes about naming objects of an inanimate nature is largely determined by the semblance it has to the thing which it represents. In the end, however, the dead stay dead. Many were the times we tried (and failed) to stop the abominable course of events. It was unlike those carnivals upon ocean liners, and those ocean liners filled with inconceivable delights.

i like this story,

Can't wait for the flick.

excellent. more! more!

Spoiler: We have now reached the halfway point, but that is of no consequence.

Spoiler: 'Everything has consequences,' she laughed, 'they are the heartbeat of experience.'

The flightiness Spoiler: he exhibitied at critical moments made of him a most problematic hero in any situation.

Spoiler: But a word of caution: one can usually flee a social situation or a heated confrontation, on most counts, but one cannot flee one's own mind.

Spoiler: Confused about the boundary between inside and outside and even more about what might separate the profile of his head from that of an enormous orange bird in despair he sits on a bench along the boardwalk.

Spoiler: Above which the skies glowered with a deepening purple hue, as though it were a welt running its painful course with uncanny hurriedness.

Seeing in this movement a reproach Spoiler: he resolved to allow his bird self to separate entirely from his human self, rear itself up and tear at the flesh of the next hurried passer-by.

Carrion: His first Spoiler: born's name.

And yet, he would not Spoiler: take his coffee double-double, like any other self-respecting human being.

Spoiler: Simply because the burden was far too heavy and the bag too flimsy to hold the weight.

Spoiler: Meanwhile far overhead pieces of boxes of partially cooked chicken were sliding about the cargo hold of a jet, banging repeatedly against the hatch which seemed, unaccountably, to be about to let go and

Spoiler: then reason why such an extreme was not only possible but necessary.

She appeared, Spoiler: like mist in the darkness of a dreary night, and as she stepped into the lamplight, he noticed she

[spoiler]had scribbled out the 'is near' part of her sign, leavingSpoiler:
'the end', clearly visible.[/end spoiler]

Yeah..on purpose.

Exquisite Corpse #3
 

We have now reached the halfway point, but that is of no consequence. 'Everything has consequences,' she laughed, 'they are the heartbeat of experience.' The flightiness he exhibited at critical moments made of him a most problematic hero in any situation. But a word of caution: one can usually flee a social situation or a heated confrontation, on most counts, but one cannot flee one's own mind. Confused about the boundary between inside and outside and even more about what might separate the profile of his head from that of an enormous orange bird in despair he sits on a bench along the boardwalk. Above which the skies glowered with a deepening purple hue, as though it were a welt running its painful course with uncanny hurriedness. Seeing in this movement a reproach he resolved to allow his bird self to separate entirely from his human self, rear itself up and tear at the flesh of the next hurried passer-by. Carrion: His firstborn's name. And yet, he would not take his coffee double-double, like any other self-respecting human being. Simply because the burden was far too heavy and the bag too flimsy to hold the weight. Meanwhile far overhead pieces of boxes of partially cooked chicken were sliding about the cargo hold of a jet, banging repeatedly against the hatch which seemed, unaccountably, to be about to let go and then reason why such an extreme was not only possible but necessary. She appeared, like mist in the darkness of a dreary night, and as she stepped into the lamplight, he noticed she had scribbled out the 'is near' part of her sign, leaving 'the end', clearly visible.

I so enjoyed being a part of that, Thank you Baraka_Guru, et al. what a neat experience. I would very much love to play again. I am not a comfortable leader though, much prefer to follow and support good leaders, anyone, anyone.......:):oogle::)

Spoiler: The radio loop emanated like a siren, but it wasn't as persistent as the budgie in the cage hanging in the window across the alley.

Spoiler: Carapace hands fumbled with slippers, robe & lantern

Spoiler: Even Adam West would have been befuddled by the tomfoolery going on within the kitchen pantry.

Spoiler: The rat tried to drag a wooden spoon, down into the hole
beneath the sink cupboard.
His attempts to force the six inch horizontal gnaw-stick, into a round opening,
proved fruitless.