LOS ANGELES — Twitter is filled with poetry everyday. The short, pithy updates of 140 characters represent an ideal format for short-form verse, whether that be haiku or heroic couplets. Or, as it turns out, iambic pentameter.
The Pentametron, a new project by new media artist extraordinaire Ranjit Bhatnagar, scours the Twittersphere in search of good content, all wrapped up in iambic pentameter. Consider this gem pulled from the site:
https://twitter.com/#!/pentametron/statuses/185036855471915008
https://twitter.com/#!/pentametron/statuses/185025681816690690
https://twitter.com/#!/pentametron/statuses/185020485183090689
https://twitter.com/#!/pentametron/statuses/185008362499481600
And this one posted to his site, in not one but two languages (though does the Korean count against the meter?):
RT @mordemmy It doesn’t really matter anymore.
RT @nisaeee This drama motivated me a lot! 안구정화 짱!!
RT @jayylyrics she always gotta ruin something good
RT @Teeyaanur wow gonna do the #lin tonight again..
The site updates several times per hour, culling together iambic tweets into makeshift sonnets, and it retweets the swooped-up tweets on its Twitter account. I’d love to see Bhatnagar add rhyme schemes, though there are a few accidental ones there. As the site gains more prominence, it might just inspire all of us, each day, to compose our tweets in verse in the hopes of being immortalized on the site.
Excuse the hyperbole, but this may just be the best bot on Twitter since the Bot Lebowski. Clive Thompson (@pomeranian99) said it best, and I have no better words:
Original top image via socialtimes.com
