Lost and Found – Stepping away from them

Found poery by Diane Beckalive now blackout poem by kevin harrell

Found Poetry is a form of writing created by collecting phrases and words from around you and reframing them with a new meaning. Modern found poetry often takes the form of blacked out sentences in books (blackout poetry), book titles arranged in particular orders on shelves, and perhaps most threateningly, cut out and stuck down words from magazines (inescapably stalker-ish, I’m afraid). As part of my Introduction to Creative Writing module, I was asked to have a go.

Luckily my class was not asked to bring the latest People magazine and get to work with the scissors. Our found poetry was influenced by Frank O’ Hara’s ‘A Step Away from Them’. The poem takes place in the confines of our narrator’s lunch break and is imagery-heavy; combining description, voiced naturalistic thought and words taken from the narrators surroundings (ie: BULLFIGHT signs).  My class was asked to write a found poem based on what happened in our lunch break, beginning with the time and location. Here is my piece and some photos of what I ‘found’:

women transforming livesnew

11 AM in York.
A Tuesday filled with automatic doors
I reside in my cubicle behind hand dryer sensors,
Feminine hygiene dispensers.
The doors are plastered in yellow pages:
Sexual health, Domestic Abuse, Child Line.
All with the tagline
‘Women transforming lives’.

 

more food than peopleI exit
Following behind the boy in striped trousers
(Luckily not pyjamas)His flimsy toothpaste legs squeeze and flop towards the canteen,
Crammed with more food than people, like sardines.
The guilt of sitting without buying pushes me out of my seat.
So I stand in line:
We’re sorry for any convenience.

 

more food than ppl 2My card is declined.
I return, having gained an audience of Hugh Jackmans;
knives and forks clutched between knuckles,
wolverine-sniffing at my wasted time.
As I’m asked to transcript my thoughts they seem to disappear.
Into neat, existing slots.
PLEASE LEAVE TRAYS HERE.

 

Thanks for reading, leave a comment below!
Zoe xxx