Poeticon app for iPhone and iPad

Welcome to Poeticon!

A divining instrument? An everchanging wellspring of inspiration? A portal to the realms of uncompromising poets? Or simply a noncompetitive, chance-based word game? Drawing inspiration from I Ching philosophy and harnessing the rich, idiosyncratic lexicon of four great English-language poets, Poeticon unfolds uniquely for each seeker.

—this full version includes James Baldwin, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and Edgar Allan Poe—

At each run, seven words of different length are serendipitously borrowed from the poems of your chosen author.

The words are then presented to you one at a time. All their letters are out of place. Your goal is to unscramble them. The only way you can do this is by swapping two letters at a time.

Be mindful about your swapping karma though: If it falls below zero, you will need to start over.

In the spirit of I Ching, once you have unscrambled the seven words, take the time to ponder their unique association. Perhaps it holds a hidden meaning for you to decipher.

A word of caution: you should not indulge in invoking Poeticon more than once a day.