time required: 5+ minutes 

materials: old book or magazine page, marker or scissors

Today you will create found poetry. You can use a magazine page, an old book or anything with words. Use this existing text as a starting point. Find the “poem” within by identifying the words or sentences that stand out for you. There are various ways to approach this exercise, and no wrong answers.  You can either cut out the words and arrange them, which allows you to move them around and experiment. You can also leave the page intact and choose words that stand out and cross out the rest. See images and video for inspiration.

Using existing content as a starting point is an age-old trick that helps get the creative juices flowing. Found poetry was used by the Dadaists in early 20th Century Europe and by the Beat Poets in America in the 1940s and 50s.  It can offer an interesting glimpse into one’s own unconscious mind and is an opportunity for self-discovery.