POETRY: Found Poetry

#poem #poetry

Found poetry is when a writer takes a piece of text they have found, and reorders or displays the text in a way that turns it into an evocative poem. 

The poet may find the poem in a search engine, by editing the page of a book or letter, or even in a series of fortune cookies.

Here's one from William Whewell, called "An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics"

Hence no force, however great,
can stretch a cord, however fine,
into a horizontal line
which is accurately straight.

This was made from a mechanics paper of the same name, editing slightly to produce rhythm and rhyme.

Examples can be found in the Found Poetry Review, which has even published its own range of books.


image: flickr/KBowenwriter under creative commons