I ran across this found poem I did for a class and I thought it was interesting, so I thought I’d start a thread for it and any others someone can dig up.
Here are the rules for a found poem:
[ul][li]It must come from a non-literary source. It’s too easy to turn literature into literature.[/li][li]Any words may be omitted, but no words may be added nor may the order that the words occur in be altered.[/li][li]The lines may be broken up however the poet sees fit.[/ul][/li]
And this is what I came up with, from Whiz Mob, chapter 5; The Act of Theft which describes how a pickpocket operates. This is about 30 pages, beginning where the chapter begins and ending where it ends, and cutting the whole thing down to less than 50 lines of verse:
Whiz Mob
In order to avoid confusing the reader
The act of theft will be presented three times.
First, the thief must want to steal.
He must have anticipated disasters,
Legal and non-legal,
Be prepared to meet them as they arise
From the victim being robbed,
From the law that he has cleared with
(To the tune of a hundred dollars a day)
The priveledge of working unimpeded,
And one or more partners.
Their first concern is to find a victim
Who has enough money to make the theft worthwhile
Then, with a deft fanning shaded by the stall framing the mark for a tool, clip him.
The theft is complete.
The tool
Signals the stall,
Who takes the wallet
And they move on,
Another spot, another victim,
Until they call a halt,
The money
Divided,
The wallets
Disposed of,
The reader
Should be reminded
That the pickpocket is strictly nonviolent
He lets a victim - even a well-heeled one - go
Rather than call attention to the thievery.
The pickpocket
Uses the psychology
Of bodily contact,
Tactilism,
Which distracts the victim’s attention
To take his mind off of his money.
The pickpocket
Melts
Into any crowd,
Difficult to observe and remember.
The argot
Hardly reflects this gentle art
But rather evokes images
Of agression and violence.
The hook
Steps in behind a man,
Cutting into him.
His finger,
Just within the pocket
Makes
A dozen
Or so
Tiny
Pleats
Folding
The lining
With great
Dexterity.
This is called reefing a kick.
If the reader could see this,
It would appear that the bills
Rise rapidly
Of their own volition
And emerge
From the pocket
Into the thief’s hand.
The act of theft has taken seconds.
Even so, the action was oversimplified
Because it is impossible to describe.
The pickpocket
Receives and sends
A constant set of signals
To and from the victim
By manual and bodily contact
The victim
Responds, although he does not know their meaning,
Reacts, without being aware that he receives them.
Likewise,
A set of signals
Is constantly being received
By the mob members
Verbal, kinesic, tactile,
Unconsciously sent or received
Thoroughly integrated with natural physical movement and verbal communication.
Some tools,
Thinking about a score
Or talking about it afterwards
Refer to themselves
As owning it
Even though the wallet is still in the victim’s posession.
If the tool
Gets his mitt down,
Is a competent mechanic,
He will find a way to take it.
In a split second,
The decision to rob the man is made
And he has already been robbed.