"something new, something strange:" found poetry workshop

“Something New, Something Strange”

Found Poetry Workshop

Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters NHS

Led by Meg Winikates@mwinikates, http://mwinikates.com

“Kéramos” [excerpt] by HWL

….

Turn, turn, my wheel! All things must changeTo something new, to something strange;

Nothing that is can pause or stay;The moon will wax, the moon will wane,The mist and cloud will turn to rain,The rain to mist and cloud again,To-morrow be to-day.

Thus still the Potter sang, and still,By some unconscious act of will,The melody and even the wordsWere intermingled with my thoughtAs bits of colored thread are caughtAnd woven into nests of birds.

….

What is found poetry?

• Choice

• Context

• Chance

• Constraint

Shelf-Read Poetry: Book Spine Stacks

The series Sorting Shark from the Sorted Books

project by Nina Katchadourian

Pictured above: A Day at the Beach

C-prints, each 12.5 x 19 inches, 2001

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/languagetranslati

on/sortedbooks.php

Crowdsourced Poetry:Google Poetics

http://hyperallergic.com/92737/th

e-found-poetry-of-google-

autocomplete/

Crowdsourced Poetry 2: Flarf

• Pick two things as

unrelated as you can

make them.

• Put them in the

search box.

• Use the search

results to create your

poem.

Crowdsourced Poetry 3: Twitter Couplets by Pentametron

Environmental Poetry: Signage Spotting

Photo by Matt Holzman

http://es.klear.com/profile/KCRW_Matt

http://www.openpoetrybooks.com

http://www.rd.com/funny-stuff/

funny-road-signs/

Born after fire,

a move from wall hanging

to artist, increasingly embroidered

by adventurous explorations

of colors and spirit.

Her influence spread through

stitches; abstract weavings

of floss transcendence.

Curated Poetry: Museum Exhibit Labels

Illustrated Poetry:Book Pages

• Circle or underline the words you want to use (pencil first until you’re sure)

• Box out the words you want to keep.

• Plan & color your illustration around/under your poem.

• Blackout everything else.

“21st Century Henry”Found poems from HWL’s Complete Poems

Your turn…

Results & Reactions?

http://xkcd.com/1540/

Streaming Consciousness:Twitter & Google results

Your turn…

Results & Reactions?

http://xkcd.com/1443/

Dictionaries

Historic Diaries

Newspaper Articles

Facebook, dating sites, Instagram, Tumblr…

Thank you!Next workshop: April 16, 2 pm“Grace Unto Every Art: Ekphrastic Poetry”