Found poetry is like a treasure hunt for words. Instead of writing new lines, poets find words or phrases in places like books, magazines, or street signs, and use them to create a new poem. Think of it as recycling / repurposing words to make new meanings!
This can be a fun way to see everyday words in a fresh light. Found poetry can also be a way of exploring climate themes. For example, we can read science reports and policy documents in the normal way — to understand them and critically evaluate them — but we can also respond to them creatively. We can rearrange their words to express our own feelings, to raise up our voices or the voices of others, to ask questions, and to imagine alternative possibilities for the future.
Methods for creating found poetry
1. Just go looking
Find an interesting text, and gather words and phrases. Write them out to create a new poem. The poem can be of any length and any subject. It can make as little or as much sense as you wish. Often a poem will mean different things for different people.
Here is one such text you could use. It is an excerpt from a legal document, a landmark court ruling spelling the victory of young people against the State, forcing the government to change its climate policy.
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