Here's a wrinkle to the idea of using geographic constraint to generate page numbers for a collage. The recipe combines elements of abecedarium and location to generate page numbers and titles of poems in a series. How it works:
(Africa will be our example -- we regularly "use" Africa to find the way through our collaborations -- but you can establish any place you'd like.)
Abecederium:
- start by picking the name of a country beginning with the letter A (for example, Angola).
- obtain a copy of that country's national anthem (most found online).
- scan for a phrase that begins with the same letter you're currently using (in Angola's anthem we found: "As by our work we build the New Man").
- that phrase becomes the title of your first poem.
- for each poem in the series, repeat the process, using the next letter in the series (for us: b- Benin, c - Congo; d - Djibouti; e - Eritrea).
Page numbers:
- determine the capital city of the country (for ex., Angola = Luanda).
- establish the city's GPS coordinates. Those numbers are the page numbers you'll use for this particular poem in the series.
- repeat as above for the next poem: a new letter, the next country, its capital city, the relevant GPS coordinates.
This method of weaving geographic constraint through two elements of the collage - title and page number - is particularly satisfying for someone exploring, however obliquely, a sense of place.
