Magnetic Poetry

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The Original Magnetic Poetry kit.
The Original Magnetic Poetry kit.
A poem made using Magnetic Poetry
A poem made using Magnetic Poetry

Magnetic Poetry is a line of novelty products invented in 1993 by Dave Kapell. They feature small magnetic tiles printed with single words or fragments that can be adhered to a magnetic metal surface (typically a refrigerator door or file cabinet) and arranged to form phrases, sentences, or entire poems. There are basic kits of tiles with everyday words and special kits with more esoteric words. The brand is owned by Magnetic Poetry, Inc. Millions of Magnetic Poetry Kits, in dozens of different languages and themes, have been sold around the world.

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[edit] Uses

The creator of Magnetic Poetry invented the product as a way to help compose music lyrics [1], but uses of the product extend limitlessly. Magnetic Poetry can be used to compose poems and songs, fight writer's block, or to leave messages on a public surface (similar to a household message board). Since there is a limited number of words to work with, "magnetic poets" must find creative substitutions and unique arrangements to convey meaning. According to the product website, Madonna is rumored to have used the Sequel Kit to compose a song [2]. The low word economy limits the length of intelligible phrases, but this can be supplemented with additional kits.

[edit] Basic kits

The Original Kit and Sequel Kit are the basic Magnetic Poetry kits. Both have 440 common words and fragments each that can be arranged into phrases and sentences. Fragments include 's' to form plurals, as well as present tense third person singulars and 'ing' to form gerunds.

[edit] Additional kits

Magnetic Poetry, Inc. produces a wide range of supplemental kits that have special vocabularies around a certain topic such as sexuality and religion.

[edit] External links

Languages