Found poetry is the art of excerpting words and phrases from any written source and combining them in new ways to form a poem. Sources can range from traditional texts like books, newspapers and magazines to more unexpected origins like product packaging, Twitter updates and court testimony.
A Kickstarter campaign run between February 3 and March 4, 2012, generated more than $1,250 for the Found Poetry Project, double the project’s original goal.
Five hundred kits, each containing all the materials someone needs to write a found poem, will be distributed in community bookstores, libraries, coffee shops, public transportation and other public locations for people to stumble upon beginning March 28. Kit finders are encouraged to write a poem using the kit and share it on the project website.
“While poets have been incorporating and building on one another’s work for centuries, found poetry is still an under-practiced and, in some cases under-appreciated, art form,” said Jenni Baker, founder and editor-in-chief at The Found Poetry Review.
“We hope the Found Poetry Project will be a fun initiative that gets the public involved in experimenting with found poetry and showcases the contributions that can be made in the genre.”
Individuals and groups are encouraged to extend the reach of the project by creating their own kits to distribute in their communities. Guidelines for those wishing to participate in the project are available on the Found Poetry Project website.
For more information about the project, visit http://www.foundpoetryproject.com or contact Jenni Baker at email@example.com.