Found Poems & the Future of the Language

We often think of poems as having authors, but that's not always true. Sometimes poems are found, rather than thought. One of the first American poets to find poems rather than write them, was the Chicago-born poet, Jackson Mac Low. As a Buddhist, anarchist, and pacifist, Mac Low believed that poems should contain as little of the author's own ego as possible. So he figured out how to let the poem write itself. Sometimes he wrote poems by opening a book at random and writing down the first word he saw. Each letter of that word would become the first letter of other words in the poem. Mac Low discovered that a poem written in this manner might be something entirely new. A fresh assembly of words, a gathering that marks a new place in the world of all that is written & said.

Here are some wonderful poems written in this way by 8th graders at Clinton. See if you can figure out what word the students first found. And remember that, even though each poem has a name attached to it, that's not the author's name. It's the name of the person who discovered the poem. These students are not writers in the normal sense of the word, they are explorers. They are exploring the future of the language.

Angela F.

Reply everyone patience like you

Love on vivid experience

Care a risk excuse

Joyful open year felt unable least

Worry obviously rather relax yet

Ciahara S.

Angry now good right yet.

Insisted night seen I see today extra disguise.

Patient and then I enjoy new time.

Rock on closer knock.

Quiet unicorn in every town.

Walls are long life sound.

Shakil A.

Some of muddy even

From railroad of mountain

Some out mighty every

Jose D.

Hunts Uruk-Lai now tracks soldier

Now oily water

Mordor on rattling dun orc Rams

Aragon ran and gave orcs Nazguls

Bilbo is lowlands bag old

Michael F.

Custom ubiquitious streamlined their ounce merchants

Around rockers on useful new displacement

Ford over Rams drivetrain

Do H.

Popular or psycho us like all really

Imad K.

Carefully attacking

robbers entertaining

us luckily left

yawning

Taha M.

Harry argument roared roared you

Potter of threaten tolerate especially robes

Hogwarts of good waiting a rapturously then should

Fahad A.

Many answers nag you

Dumb under many brains

Atomic trains out mined incredible characters

Fears erased American redscare

President resigns entering seaside independent diner exerting nuclear turds

No outbreaks

Brown rooms orange washers nightly

Trouble rises out under blue lighting egos

Wasif O.

Hannibal away neatly net ice Buddy all leader

Emergency mason extra reading gun expert now case yellow

Knife novella in flight enough

Amelia S.

Rolling out lightly land is now Gandolf

Hillside iron lift last strange if dear earnest he else

Striking then rise in killing in gospel

Tobacco others business as companies competition other

Numan K.

Dragon reptile at geometric orchestra normal

Electron life ear contest takeoff radiation on nucleus

Dan M.

Treebend roused exclaimed escapes

beggar eerie a road design

Holler one little like else rouge

Converse experience not vertical ever rapid sell equality

Elisabeth P.

Hold on like during

Dwarf will and remembered frightened

Martin admit returned tires it night

Lidia G.

Jewel echo war enough land

Abducting bishop don’t up conversations to it not gently

Dog out great

Speak photograph entrance as known

Liam inserted another map

Tiger increased growth enough remembered

Vinny L.

Alone: lake often no everything

House: how often us stare end

Chapter: cottage how all part together every rumbling

Chill: horseman in last long

Gray: riders at yes

Ricky B.

astonishment suddenly to out not in

secret how my ear next time I

marching earn a right not open

through how ray on up go now

happen or were enemy rule emperor

me perhaps end roll on rate at to

end not do on new elder well

earn later low open window in no

door over

Saad S.

Crude roaches establish devious establishments

Lycanthropy yields cannons and notifies the

nasty roaches on partly yapping

Transformed roaches are now snooping filthily on roads

minding educated drivers

Corrugated online roaches race unidentified gullying

and tracking educated drivers

Caleb P.

Morris:

Man own Rebecca remembered it said

Mineral:

Minerals in narrow evaporate rock a limestone

Bibiana B.

Listen

Lucas called a university

Seeing university clubs

looking like us

And something looks uncomfortable

Say Christ’s choice

Acting stranger and childish

Smoked like a supposed ciggy

Used little Cait

Shrug

Light uproariously left

Lucas slung undeniably

A car sitting until used

So likely unpredictability

Laughed saying Urrp

Leaned up unmasked

Unknown child

Confused loneliness

Crying

Changing a cottage

Listen

Ela K.

Blood like on ordered Diesel

Overgrown venturing east realized grass raking over wheezing Nature

Wrists remember it strained the storage

Steven T.

Terrible ego round rat in bed late excuse

Within ill tree hearken inside nature

So orange

Remember each month eat mango buy every resource

Bad apple death

Seyabend S.

Whatever her aunt told everybody viciously everybody runs

Open peoples everybody neighbor

Home of many everybody