This poem was written by Nick Montfort for New Year's 2011-2012. The generator that produces the boundless poem "Dropping the Ball" changes its behavior every year at midnight on New Year's. The content terms are drawn uniformly at random from a list of 150 words. During odd-numbered years, the last letter of these words is dropped; during even-numbered years, the first letter is dropped. The 150 words are approximately all of the words in English that (1) can be inflected with "-s," (2) remain English words without their last letter, and (3) remain English words without their first letter.

If you miss watching the poem change at the end of this New Year's Eve, try it at the end of another year.

Run & read "Dropping the Ball."