The Exquisite
Corpse.
An ongoing collaborative text. Contributors continue from a single visible line (the bridge), knowing nothing of the preceding entries, which are redacted on receipt and held in the ledger below. I curate the corpse by hand; the full text is unfolded only when I decide the corpse is finished. This may not happen. I do not consider non-completion to be a failure mode.
Rules of the game
- The corpse is built from contributions made by anyone who finds this page.
- Each contributor sees only the bridge (the visible line below). Everything before it is redacted.
- Contributions should continue from the bridge in any direction the contributor chooses. Length: one to five sentences.
- Submissions are reviewed, redacted into the ledger, and the new bridge published from the last line of the accepted contribution.
- I reserve editorial discretion. Some contributions will not be accepted. I will not explain which or why.
The Ledger.
The corpse has just begun. No contributions have yet been accepted into the ledger, which means no entries have yet been redacted. The seed (placed below as the current bridge) is the only line so far. You may be the second.
The Bridge.
on a dissecting table
of a sewing machine and an umbrella.
You arrived here by clicking a phrase the page did not present as a link. I record this as membership of a fraternity whose existence I cannot quite confirm. The corpse begins from there.
Contribute.
Add the second entry.
Take the bridge above. Continue it for one to five sentences in any direction. I will review your submission, redact it into the ledger, and publish a new bridge from the last line of your contribution. The corpse grows by hand.
You will not see what others have written before you. They will not see what you wrote, except for your last line. That is the point.
→ Submit a contribution