Poetry By Chance: An Anthology of Poems Powered by Metaphor Dice

by Taylor Mali (Editor)

Writers of all ages and levels of experience have been using Taylor Mali’s Metaphor Dice for years to explore and revel in the formulaic nature of metaphors. The game gives you a collection of three different concepts or language tools that create a metaphor, and it is up to the poet to fill in the rest of the poem based on their roll. Some metaphors work and some don’t. Some are immediately hilarious while others slowly reveal themselves to be astonishingly insightful. Poetry By Chance is the first collection of poems that were all prompted by different rolls of Metaphor Dice, featuring submitters from the inaugural Golden Die Contest.

After reading through this collection, you can’t help but see the power of metaphor in understanding the world around us. In this anthology there is no singular poetic style or voice, but rather a collection of unique voices and perspectives for each roll. With some deeply personal, and some widely universalizing, one thing is these poems are the brainchild of an ingenious, yet simple, writing tool.

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Paperback

Published July 11, 2023

About the author

Taylor Mali is a former teacher and classically trained actor who now makes his living as a professional poet. One of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, he is a veteran of the poetry slam and the author of What Learning Leaves and several spoken word CDs and DVDs. He lives and writes in New York City. For more information, visit www.taylormali.com"

Reviews

[Raegan · Rating 1 out of 5]

-Disclaimer: I won this book for free through Goodreads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.-

The writers tried to connect random ideas and words into coherent thoughts. Most of the metaphors didn't work or flow well. All-in-all, it did not read like poetry to me.

Poem I liked:

What It Means To Forget

"For some,
forgetting is a gentle blessing
providing absolution
and forgiveness of sins.

For me,
forgetting is a harbinger of death,
bearing the image of my grandmother--
her brown eyes blank, blinking--
unable to remember my name".

Carmela Martino

Page 6.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this collection as part of the “book bundle” I purchased with Button Poetry. I was impressed in particular with some of the young people’s poems. I thought, “whoa, a child wrote that??” But because the premise of the book is that each person used Taylor’s “metaphor dice” it became kind of tiresome to read about this being a curse and that being a curse and this other thing being a curse (or blessing or dance etc). I also don’t love that this anthology was created to sell a product, you know? Like other anthologies I have recently read serve to amplify BIPOC voices or to bear witness to pregnancy/child loss or to call readers to action against climate change. There are some notes in the back of the book for teachers, so perhaps this anthology serves teachers in some sense, but it feels mostly to serve selling these metaphor dice. Bravo again to the young people whose work was included, though.

[Mariann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great compilation of poetry and a very creative idea.
This book contains poetry from both adults and children whose ideas came from rolling metaphor dice, which in many cases determine the title of the poem. This method has led to some surprisingly powerful poetic works. Definitely recommend this collection.

[Suzanne Eastman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant way to engage students and others in the process of writing poetry. Love it from both a creative aspect as well as a prior educator who was always looking for an interesting way to engage student writers.

[Ron Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on the concepts of our ideals on love,death and our own identities.

[Matt Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of poetry!

[Jennichole Arnold Arbucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I would enjoy the book as much as I did. I was spectacle about the Dice thing... But most of the poems were enjoyable to read. Nifty Read!