I have developed a Python program to fill a variety of visual poetry shapes with any text you enter. The available shapes are pine_tree, pyramid, diamond, funnel, hourglass, twister, bell, goblet, egg, and plus. These are mostly the symmetrical ones. It does perhaps 95% of the work of producing very smooth outlines—much, much better than you can do by hand. Some examples of poems I have written using it are shown below.
It is not perfect and never will be. Concreters know that a little editing is always required to shift words around, insert a few spaces here and there, and the like. The program has an issue with the "tail"—the last line—which is easily fixed. You don't have to be a programmer to run the tool. The Python file is essentially just a text file.
-
To run the program you simply open the file, insert your text (50–300 words), and adjust a few parameters. The width parameter is important as it controls the height and width of the shape. It is generally set to 50–90 letters. Again, this is a simple edit. It's best to get the output right before pasting it into PS, so you may need to do a few runs with different widths to get it right.
-
Then you copy the output using the copy tool and paste it into PS between <center>......</center> tags—for twister, paste with no tags.
-
Then you post the poem in PS. A few tiny edits may be required to fix minor issues, mostly with the last few lines. This can be tricky as PS can be a bit cantankerous, but a few goes usually does the trick.
The good news is that you don't have to be a programmer egg-head to run the program. There are many apps for running Python out there. The even better news is that you don't even need those. After editing and saving the Python text file, you can simply drag it into ChatGPT, Grok, and other AI tools. Just say: "Run the program and show the output." Check the output, go back and change the Python text file if needed, then run it again. When it looks right, use the Copy button to copy the output and paste it into PS.
Sorry to labour on like this, but I wanted to convince you that it ain't hard. I need fellow Soupers to give it a go and provide feedback. One Souper has already offered to make a front-end for the program to make it even easier to use. But before doing so, I need feedback from users. By the way, this is a completely open-source thingo. It is an absolutely free tool and will never be commercial. Better Concrete => That's the GO!
So, Soupers—I need your help.
Let's get Concreting! If you are interested, send me a SoupMail and I'll provide you with a link to the program.
By the way, you may be intrigued by the title and program name => "William the Concreter." I love catchy business names. This was the business name used by a couple of Croatian guys who did my driveway. There is a suburb in Brisbane with the Aboriginal-derived name Toowong. If you go to the food hall in the shopping centre there, you'll see a Chinese outlet named "Two-Wongs"! There is also a bin collection service run by a couple of lovely ladies with the business name "Get-a-Barbo", with an image of—you know who—painted on the side. Maybe, as a side issue, you may have some gems that you can add here.
Here are the links to some of my recent examples produced by William:
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/diamonds_in_the_leaf_1840188
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/down_the_gurgler_1840142 — Poem of the Day
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/borrowed_upright_1840140
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/trees_that_become_one_1840038
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/every_bell_knows_the_seventh_1840026
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/what_the_whirlpool_keeps_1839970
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/the_sands_of_times_keeper_1839956
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/shared_goblet_hollow_vintage_1839840
...etc., blah, blah, blah... stop babbling on.