Chance poems are poems that are...written using chance. Much like the American composer John Cage, who used to assign different notes to different numbers on a pair of dice and then roll them to compose music, the same can be done for writing poetry. Another way Cage composed by chance was to use the ancient Chinese divination tool, the I Ching, or The Book of Changes.
A few years ago I was fortunate to study with the Chinese-American poet Li Young Lee, who taught us how to use the I Ching to create a poem. By using chance, we are able to open ourselves up more to what is around us and let the universe guide our writing.
This video talks about the different ways to consult the I Ching and how to understand what it is saying.
This video is of a piece of "chance music" John Cage wrote and performed using the I Ching. The visuals have also been created using the I Ching. Fascinating!