THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK

Heard, Georgia, ed. 2012. THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK: A BOOK OF FOUND POEMS. Ill. by Antoine Guiloppé. ISBN 9781596436657. 

Found Poetry. What is it? Where do you find it? Why is it important? Before I wrote my review of THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK, I had all of these questions and more.

Found Poetry is everywhere. If you can spot it somewhere in your environment, or read it somewhere in a piece of text, Twitter, Facebook, etc., then you can recreate it into Found Poetry.

Found Poetry is a re-imagining of words which already exist in some form. 

For instance, these are my last five Facebook updates from friends. They are dated March 1, 2014:

Happy, Happy March!

Wrapping it up before the big storm

Night fishing has turned into day fishing. Fish=1 Jack =6

I'm a beaver? I didn't see that one coming!

Leaving for tape clinic (Pre-contest)

Here is the Found Poetry I created from these updates:

Night fishing has turned into day fishing. 

Fish=1 Jack =6

I didn’t see that one coming!

Happy, Happy March!

Leaving before the big storm.

Here’s a different one using the same updates:

Didn’t see that one coming!

Wrapping it up.

Leaving for clinic.

Night.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

So, why is Found Poetry important? According to Heard, in the introduction of THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK, “creating a found poem has to do with sharpening a poet’s vision--seeing that poetry exists all around us and ultimately having the insight and imagination to find it.”

I agree with her. It’s an awakening of a creative strand in your vision. For students as poetry writers, I think it would give them a foothold into the world of poetry, making it less scary. The words are already given. They just need to find them and then release their creative energy. 

A great introduction for students would be to read several poems from THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK.

THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK is a book of found poetry compiled by Georgia Heard. It features well known poets, like Naomi Shihab Nye, Marilyn Singer and J. Patrick Lewis. Each poet abided by the simplest rule of found poetry: the text already existed in another form. The sources were as varied as the poets themselves: Publishers Clearing House website, a 2010 Greenpeace calendar and even a computer’s drop down menu. Above the title of the poem, the source of the found text was given. As a reader, it was interesting to consider the source both before and after reading the poem. Consider Janet Wong’s found poem titled “Pep Talk” on page 6 of THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK:

PEP TALK

Keep cool.

See a brighter solution.

Maintain freshness.

Boost your power!

The source? An OxiClean detergent box!

The poems are kid-friendly and Antoine Guiloppé keeps the illustrations simple and appealing. They are black and white drawings which support the text and often illustrate both the poem and the source of the poem. 

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND LESSON

This lesson is designed for all grades. The source of the found poetry should be tailored to the age of the kids. For instance, magazines for elementary and Facebook updates for secondary students to differentiate age and interest levels.

Provide access to the found poetry source and then let kids create their own found poetry. They can work individually, or in pairs. Once the students create their poetry, allow them to share their poems to the group. A great technology extension would be to let them create a poetry movie with their poem, using a video sight like Animoto, which is a simple Web 2.0 tool for any age.