#1

I'm having a little trouble with the definition of exactly what a "found poem" is. From the understanding I got from class, I would assume that anything is a "found poem" because the inspiration occurs by something you just happen to see.

Am I alone in wanting a more solid definition? I'm sure we were given one but I can't for the life of me remember it. So here I go on a web search to find more specific parameters as to what a "found poem" is.

Wikipedia (which may or may not be reliable) states: Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original

So in that definition, very few of us really followed the directions this week.

According to poets.org: Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

So it's generally the same idea. I think most of us assumed just because we "found inspiration" in a certain object, that the resulting piece was in fact a "found poem." As illustrated by these examples, that is not the case. I think many of us (including me) might need to do a little more research to ensure that we are following the form laid out for us.