Category: Found Poem

For my found poem I chose words from a New York Times Article titled The Slur I Never Expected to Hear in 2020 written by Cathy Park Hong in April of 2020. The entire article explains racism in the form of different hate crimes that has occurred towards Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic. Hong goes into great detail about Asian Americans being attacked because people have blamed them for the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article also brought up a long standing issue that people continuously group all Asian Americans into one category no matter their culture. For example a person could be of Korean decent but people will call them or think they’re Chinese which brings up an even bigger picture of the racism Asian Americans have had to face for years.

While reading this article and creating this poem I was more saddened rather than angry. It’s heartbreaking to see so many people, specifically a group that I am closely related to, experience the kind of pain talked about in the article. Throughout history we have seen Asian Americans for through so many ups and downs from back when things such as The Chinese Exclusion Act were still enforced because people were afraid of them to Asian Americans then being titled the “model minority” and being praised to now most recently people being afraid again because they believe they are the cause of the pandemic. It’s upsetting to see how race can be socially constructed as society chooses when people are beneficial and when they’re a problem. I chose to arrange my poem in a way that would be easy for people to read so you can fully understand what the article is communicating. I wanted to use the black construction paper so there was a nice contrast with the white of the computer paper in order to help the words stand out. One thing that I chose to do carefully was place the word alone in the bottom right corner away from the rest of the poem to truly emphasize the feeling of loneliness that is brought up throughout the article. Overall I thought this was a great challenging experience and I hope this poem helped people to open their eyes to the racism that Asian Americans have faced throughout history especially in recent times.

This poem was created using a quote I found by R. M. Drake. This poem is about the way you allow people to treat you, and how you allow people to keep coming back into your life even when they have proven the relationship is one-sided. The way I chose to cut the words and rearranged them with an emphasis on certain words using white paper as their background helped me to create a simple poem that cut straight to the point.

When reading the quote I had found I thought this is something I know I needed to hear and I’m sure others could benefit from the poem I chose to create out of the quote. From this experience, I learned how you can turn any type of writing into a poem that creates a meaning which can be true to you or anyone. Creating this poem helped me think about Zong! in a different way, the way I set up words in my poem to create a more dramatic take on some of the words helped me to realize that could be the reason for the patterns and format of the words in Zong!

I’m not scared

Jesus Christ

loves

me

Trust me?

Would you lie to me?

Scared tonight

feels like teenage fever

My Found Poem comes from the lyrics of “Teenage Fever” by Drake. The song shows different emotions and brings many thoughts by being a teenager. Relating to the song really makes me look at it in a different perspective then others and using the lyrics was easier for me to make my found poem.

The main idea of my found poem is in the title of it, “Trust yourself”, The way i chose to go about it was to find lyrics to show emotions that people express or even keep inside. In the opening line of my poem I wanted to start off by throwing people that read it off by saying “I’m not scared” but with the lines followed it explains how trust is not being shown by asking if the person trust them. Jesus Christ is someone people trust go to to talk to and tell him their secrets and sins, Myself included. As a teenager I go through these emotions everyday because now that I am in college I really saw who to trust and who not to trust back in high school. Knowing that I would tell some of my closest friends from high school secrets and they would go behind my back and tell other people, but not just them would do it, I am guilty of it too. This is the point I am trying to get across, Knowing that I make the same mistakes as others when they put their trust in me goes to show you really can only trust yourself because I know I am not the only person on this earth that does this.

This poem was created from a old biology lab. This lab was focused around using dissection techniques to open animals and observe body features. This class in particular is hard for me, and really tends to make me angry. So whilst looking for something that I could make into a found poem that really has an emotional impact on my life I chose bio.

My lab got repurposed to highlight the effects of human impacts on animal life. For instance we poke prod and cut animals for research testing and learning. This poem was written to show the Cruelty of academia and to stand out against the harm of animals.

This poem is ment to be said slow and choppy to give the words impact. The poem can also be read withought pause also creating the message. In the poem a certain section is pasted to the page diagonally which makes some of the poem hard to read. This was done on purpose to represent the open section of a wound damaged and an hard to look at.

My poem was taken from the book “Milk and Honey” which is a book composed of many different small poems. The poem was originally about the strength of the heart and i put a spin of my perspective on the strengths and functions of the heart.

My poem about the heart explores the complexity and depth of human emotions. It delves into the many facets of the heart, from its physical function as a vital organ to its metaphorical significance as the seat of the soul. The heart is strongest aspect of the human body both emotionally and physically. I tried to portray the heart as more than just an organ, as i see it it encapsulates the human existence as a whole. The heart functionally controls all the pumping and dispersion of blood to your lungs and other vital parts of your body. Likewise, your heart is the most complex organ in your body physically it is also complex with your emotions and feelings. Your heart can shatter physically and emotionally but in the end the stronger you are internally will allow you to overcome this set back and still live on wether that be a medical battle, mental battle or physical. The overall message of this poem is to not let things effect your mental have a strong heart mind and body.

I also included the picture of the heart to serve a lot of meaning. As seen in the picture the heart involves a lot of complexity and confusing organs. But if you spin your perspective on this picture you can see flowers growing out of roots into a beautiful structure. This picture is meant to leave an impact on the reader to interpret how if you change your mindset towards life that your outcome can be so much better than every before. However, if you look at it from the difficult way you could get frustrated and give up on even trying to grasp the concept. This is the idea of mentality and viewpoints. This has a lot to do with your mental health and how you view things. This is encouraging others to always see the positive in life.

My found poem would not upload on my blog post so I will write my poem out

Write a story

Dream

I had Hollywood Dreams

I wanna flaunt

I wanna get rich

Gold

My dream my childish dreams

my childish way

Is it always as good as it seems

surely

How could you know?

How could you know?

My Poem was cut out and rearranged from the lyrics of J Coles “Tale of 2 cities”. As a fan of music who likes to analyze lyrics its hard to say J Cole isn’t one of the best when it comes to his writing. I tried to find words that made the most sense that also fit me and what I feel.

I followed the metaphor of the American Dream where the goal is to become wealthy and have a nice rich lifestyle. To make it to the top of the food chain. I wanted to stay away from the negatives in the song and talk about the things that he said that could be inspirational because as a person who is highly regarded such as J Cole, to follow your dreams is important. I believe this relates to Zong! in the way how there is a use of metaphor in it that relates to a bigger picture. I think most people could relate to my Found poem as American citizens. This assignment helped me better understand Zong! because doing a found poem myself made me put myself in the shoes of the writer.

*PSA my poem got messed up in my folder, so I wrote it out here as well. 

Left First-

I did not

speak out

I did not

speak out

I did not 

speakout 

I did not 

speak out 

           because 

I was not 

I was not

I was not

 I was not a

      then they came 

they came, they came, they came 

and there was no one left 

            SPEAKOUT. 

I took the poem “First They Came”, by Pastor Martin Niemöller, to be my found poem. The poem “First They Came” stood out to me for several reasons when posed with the prompt of finding a piece that made me feel something. What is most upsetting about this poem is the relevance it still holds today. Even coming from a post-war world regarding World War Two, addressing Holocaust, this poem still holds great signifigance. Throughout history, this enduring issue of people not standing up for others can be seen in numerous lights. This poem simultaneously represents all of the voices of society. The voices that have a voice and the ones that don’t. This poem encourages me to be a better person, a person I wish someone else would be not only to me but for me. 

The method by which I chose to create this found poem was by selecting words and phrases, cutting out, and rearranging them. When rearranging this poem I was thinking about a new way to interpret the words and overall conveyed messages from Niemöller’s work. I wanted to emphasize not only the word “speak out”, but the action of speaking out, and the impact it holds on society. When referring to “I” in my found poem, I am directly addressing the reader. I want them to feel like they too are the victim, a bystander, and a voice worthy of great change. I decided what to cut out and rearrange by taking the words that held the most weight to me. By taking out certain words, I can illustrate the relevance of this piece that continues to endure. Overall, this experience helped me think differently about language and literature in regards not only to “ZONG!”, but the English language. English theory is one of the most fascinating aspects of the English language to me, and I believe that Found poem is a prime example of how intricate English truly is.

*Original poem*

“First They Came”, by Pastor Martin Niemöller

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

My Found Poem is originally from the lyrics of ‘Quiet’ by MILCK, in which the starting of the poem are commands to a woman, which seems to be from a man or another woman of power (in my opinion).  Connie Lim a.k.a “MILCK”, who co-wrote “Quiet”, said that this song was her personal-therapy song to help her cope with her past of going through domestic violence, depression and anorexia as a teenager. This song reached millions of people after MILCK and a choir performed it at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017.“Put on your face, know your place, shut up and smile, don’t spread your legs” were the original lyrics of verse 1. Connie had an interview with Allure to explain and break down what each lyric from the first verse means. “Put on your face”, when people say something sexually obtrusive, just laugh it off, don’t let them know that it hurts. “Know your place”, growing up Chinese-American, she was always taught men are superior and that men desire women with smaller mouths and bigger eyes because they talk less and observe more. “Shut up and Smile”, refers to the times when she felt uncomfortable in a situation and she couldn’t cry, all she could do was shut up and smile. “Don’t spread your legs”, when she was younger, she was a tomboy and her mum always told her ‘close your legs’, ‘you have to protect it’, she states that the quest to not spread your legs is so charged because it makes us feel vulnerable.

Creating this poem with the words from the song, gave me a deeper meaning and endearment for the song. The middle of my poem speaks of a monster, where it asks, “Would I be that monster”, at put at the top what it means to become that monster, “If I let them hear what I have to say”, just by saying something that goes against society, or maybe even your own family’s norms, then you are considered a monster. Towards the side of that, I have ‘Dry Blue Pill’, where MILCK explains that Dry Blue Pill means ‘taking something that numbs who we truly are’ and it signifies ‘allowing ourselves to consume information or opinions that harm us and ultimately kill our spirit’, no one wants to take a dry blue pill, yet somehow it seems like we all unconsciously do. I ended off my poem with ‘say something, I can’t keep quiet, I won’t keep quiet’, letting people know, share your stories, don’t let anything or anyone keep you back, don’t numb who you truly are, and continue being who you want to be.

Works Cited

https://www.allure.com/story/milck-womens-march-anthem

https://genius.com/Milck-quiet-lyrics

My found poem comes from the article the CNBC article, ‘I’m outraged:’ Women react to Roe v. Wade ruling outside of Supreme Court, which reflects the reactions of women on the June 24^th decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. For people who observed the case from afar, it received national attention as the original ruling on this case had been implemented in 1973 so after decades of controversy, it arose in The Supreme Court once again. This case presided over the bodily autonomy of women regarding their right to terminate or keep a pregnancy which led way to many other cases such as Obergefell v. Hodges and Virginia v. Loving. The Supreme Court, in its 1973 decision, found that liberties had a direct correlation with individual privacy, granting the ability to terminate a pregnancy if required. This was a landmark for the future of the country as many cases cited this case as a precedent with same-sex and interracial marriages. However, in the past year, this case was recently televised as the prospect of its overturning came to light. The decision was ultimately grueling and arduous yet significant as the highest court ruled to overturn the previous precedent and demolish women’s rights to their privacy. This article focuses on the nationwide traction women felt nationwide. This was not only enraging, but it also stripped women from a procedure they may have both needed and desired due to individual circumstances. This is an enraging topic, and I chose this article due to the upsetting aspect that many women and people feel after the ruling. We are surrounded by women as they make up half of our population and in a perspective way, even your mother had the choice to keep you and her children which is now not a choice but an obligation for many. 

In creating this found poem, I was able to graft phrases that struck me the most. In the offensive manner that women are now overlooked and pained, it became clear that my poem need not discuss anything but another reaction and direct criticism of the government. I was able to rearrange these words to make a poem using repetition and words like one another to formulate the depth of the synonyms. Following, this grants power, and it becomes permissive to discuss this violation as well as hope to change. I was able to use the space on my page to give my poem a unique structure. For example, on the far left I placed phrases like “no” and “not” which repeat themselves to represent what freedoms were revoked from women. Later, I indented phrases beginning with “I” and “I’m” to provide a sense of inner dialogue while the rest of the poem flowed as a normal line. Additionally, my spacing was also done in a manner to accentuate meaning and in a certain part, I decide to make separate lines but match the letter “A” with each phrase to signify deeper connectivity of women and use “each other” in between those lines so they could be interpreted by the reader in multiple ways. This was done so each reader could interpret this differently and choose to approach it as the end of all phrases or just one. As I worked on this poem, it brought a different perspective of the tactics at the day mark, but it did reassure me that the country must move in a different direction to solidify equality and justice. “Justice for all” is something that the country has not lived up to and that is the disappointing truth, but the poem was able to spark creativity in a manner that let me mold my hatred into something of hope instead. This formulation is unique to each individual, and hate could form a different meaning and embody different forms from the same work.