Found Poetry

During the three weeks of the session in the CTY Writing & Imagination class, we cover a wide variety of types of writing -- poetry and prose, non-fiction and speeches, advertising and technical writing. There are a few assignments that I enjoy doing along with the students, one of them being "found poetry."

The concept is simple:  You flip through the pages of a couple of magazines and write down any words or phrases that jump out as interesting or intriguing. Leave enough space between them so that you can cut the paper apart when you're finished. When you have a few dozen, cut them apart and lay them out on the table or floor in front of you. Rearrange them, looking for ones that tie together, until you have blocks that work as one. Pass whatever you have left over to others.

Voila!

"Come Sail Away"

Freedom bound
Boys in a boat
An ark
Suddenly shifted to the moon

Burning desires
Mimic the Wild West

Gleaming white rooms
Northern lights
Hard luck lessons
New life for sale

To resist amazing evolution
An insult
Still, life can do all that

With the widest of grins
Memory blurs
But pay attention:
A pickle is a pickle!