Poet's Workshop

photo by Gerry Williams

Poet's Workshop Serendipity: On the Art of Finding Poetry in Everyday Life by Terrie Leigh Relf ©2003 All rights reserved

What is a found poem?

It’s raining, and you, along with four other people, are waiting for the bus. One person sighs. The second says, "looks like I’m not going out tonight." The third responds, "that plane is flying awful low". The fourth looks at your red-and-black lady bug umbrella and says, "you’ve got kids, right?"

Jot it down. Jot it all down...

You’re in the cookbook section of your favorite;or most convenient;book store (it’s raining, remember? And that scene at the bus stop was so inspiring...). You pick up a French cookbook, turn to the desert index, and voila!

Crème Caramel
Chocolate Mousse
Choux à la Crème
crème brûlée
Crêpes Suzette
Galette des Pois

(note: Don’t forget to write down the recipes.)

You’re finally home, and to add further bliss to what has already been an awesome day, the new issue of Flesh & Blood: Tales of Dark Fantasy & Horror is in the mailbox. You thumb through it, look at all the titles: Rat’s Oblivion by ER Carlin (13), The Beginning of the End by Cathy Buburuz (26), and then an ad for Wicked Hollow (45) rise like scum to the surface of your mind.

You write these down while you’re waiting for the espresso to brew.

Now that you have a steaming cup of the dark elixir by your side, you sit down, tug off your rain boots, and knock over one of the many stacks of papers and books that cover your labyrinthian lair. You automatically reach out for balance, and something slides into your hands.

It’s Michael A. Arnzen’s Paratabloids: A collection of poetry inspired by headlines from the Weekly World News!

What could be more auspicious?

It’s a definite sign from the Muse that you’re supposed to take your bod over to the computer and write a found poem.

What do we have to work with?

conversational snippets
French desert recipes
Flash fiction titles
an ad for a collection of fiction, poetry, and art
a collection of poems by a poet who was inspired by newspaper headlines (i.e., found titles and subject matter)

How to proceed?

Write it down; write it all down;even the one cup of this and the two teaspoons of that. Play around with the order of the "found" items; add in additional lines of your own invention (it’s okay to do that in a found poem); play with order, sound. Add a refrain.

Many poems begin with found items, just like a list poem (see the archives for my column on how to write a list poem). Much of my own work begins this way.

Here’s what I did with the above. As my six-year-old daughter (already a published poet...okay, I’m bragging;wouldn’t you?!): "I have a gazillion ideas in my head!"

at the Broadway Bus Stop

a woman sighs
looks like I’m not going out tonight
kids
flesh & blood
mixed with heavy cream
and pure oblivion
they were eggs
at the beginning
inspired by
wicked hollows
and low-flying space craft
it’s still raining
but I know my
•orange-loving alien
will make another
flyby



Wait! Before you go write those poems, read these choice comments from a brief interview with Michael A. Arnzen:

I really believe that new ideas only emerge from putting two old ideas together and generating something fresh from the combination. So I'm always on the look-out for associating things that most people would never dream of putting together, coming up with a surprising discovery (like the old ads for Reeces’s peanut butter cups -- "Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut butter!" Sometimes even mixing random ideas together can generate some third, unexplored area that writes itself. Making discoveries like this is really the fun part of writing!

I always read the tabloids for a laugh, but then one headline -- "Boy's Heart is on the Outside of His Body" -- struck me as sort of sad, and I began wondering what the "real" news story might be, if the stories were real. And the next thing I knew, I was writing poetry to tell these poor characters’ stories. These were found poems of sorts; I found the truth behind the lies. All by accident -- by picking a title out of its context and seeing it from a different angle.

Ok, now you can go write those poems. Be sure to send them in, and we may find you in a featured poet slot!

Keep those questions and comments coming! I really love to hear from you! terrie@writersmonthly.com

Next Month’s Highlights Include: an Interview with members from The Science Fiction Poetry Association

Q&A Section

Q: How do you know you’re a poet?

A: If you’re asking that question, chances are that you are a poet. But just in case you need to further explore the possibility (or in case you’re thinking of converting...), take this short multiple-choice quiz. If you’d like me to assess your poetic-ness (Yes, that’s a real word, and yes, this is an entirely subjective process, but I’ll try to be as objective as possible!), then send in your responses, a brief bio, and three-five poems in a single WORD file attachment. You may also include a brief assay/essay on being a poet!

You know you’re a poet if you:

(Note: Circle all that apply)

A) hear voices and there’s no one else in the room;

B) see things that aren’t there;

C) can’t sleep at night because your computer calls your name;

D) love word play;the sound, the feel, the taste, the sight, the smell, the sentience of words;

E) sing in the shower;

F) can’t sleep at night because words, phrases, and fully-blown poems are being dictated to you and wearing protective foil head-gear doesn’t stanch the flow;

G) love orange soda, oranges, and other citrus fruits;

H) see poems rising from the pages of technical manuals, software code, and engineering/architectural plans;

I) get migraines if you’re not writing poetry;

J) use your sick days to write poetry;

K) pass up hot dates so you can stay home and write a collection of poems about not dating;

L) hang out at The East Village cafÄ, City Boxing, or the Kung Fu Academy looking for a few good poems;

M) haven’t eaten all day because you don’t want to stop writing;

N) place a two-week-old pyrex dish of rancid fried rice in close proximity to your computer so you can smell the poem while you write it;

O) consider this scenario:

P) You’re stressed, so you draw a nice, hot lavender-scented-bubble bath, fill a crystal glass with rich Merlot, light an aromatherapy candle, turn out the light, take off your clothes, slowly sink into the water...You close your eyes, bask in the luxuriousness of the moment. The only sound is an ecstatic sigh. A moment passes. Another. Your’re drifting...drifting...so relaxed...There’s a faint sound...a whisper, really... You open your eyes, glance at the misty mirror...letters, then words, start to appear;

Q) see the letter "P" and without forethought, begin to write a poem;

R) stopped taking this quiz because you’re writing a poem;

S) are using this test as material for a found poem;

T) are filling your calendar with the dates, times, and locations of poetry readings, slams, and workshops;

U) are planning to come, poems in hand, to my open Mic at Santos (corner of Beech and 30th in South Park) on the third Sunday of every month from 5-7pm;

V) are writing an acrostic poem based on the entire alphabet;

W) feel an insatiable urge to spend hours reading;

X) carry books of poetry wherever you go;

Y) are dating a poet;

Z) are walking down a dark alley, the moon is full, and you’re not frightened because you know that that heavy breathing is from a poem coming toward you; and

AA) are still not sleeping.

Visit these sites:

The Science Fiction Poetry Association: Publishers of Star*Line
http://www.dm.net/~bejay/sfpa.htm

*Sue Burke’s "Aliens Love Oranges" is here at Abyss & Apex
http://klio.net/abyssandapex/aliensloveoranges.html

Michael A. Arnzen’s Goreletter
http://www.gorelets.com/

The Weekly World News (link courtesy of Michael A. Arnzen, AKA the Gore Man)
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com

San Diego UFO Information Page
http://n6rpf.com-us.net/

For the theoretically-minded among you:
"Redeeming Prose: Colombo’s Found Poetry" by Manina Jones:
http://www.arts.uwo.ca/canpoetry/cpjrn/vol25/jones.htm

Representative Poetry Online has lists of poets, poetic timelines, an extensive glossary of terms, and other great tools:
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/index.cfm

For that créme brólÄe recipe:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_cbrulee2.htm

Anorak: Keeping Tabs on the Tabloids:
http://www.anorak.co.uk/news_162196.shtml

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