Found Poem – Samples

Below are some examples of the “Found” Poems.  DO NOT plagiarize and try to copy these for your own assignment.  Write your own!!!  These are here just to show you some ways to write these poems. The first example is in the context of our novel, Of Mice and Men.  The second example is not in that context at all.  Both are great. 

Mindy Wara
April 3, 2011
The gnawing sound did not alarm Lennie
until he felt the prick
of the mouse’s teeth sink into his hand.
He instinctively squeezed.
The snapping noise echoed in his ears
as he reluctantly pried open his his fist.
He stroked its sleek, greasy gray head
as if he were denying it had ever happened.
Silence fell as he delicately placed the freshly crushed
mouse in his left pocket,
picked up some sticks,
and headed back to camp.
The sound of his heavy footsteps died away
as he came out of the night and into the clearing
and rejoined his friend,
as if nothing had happened.

 

 

Waiting for Father's Day
Mindy Wara
April 3, 2011
The raindrops rippled on the edge of the deck
as I stood outside of the screen door of my father’s house.
My sister and brother waited in my crappy red convertible
on the darkening pavement staying dry.
I knocked twice. He wasn’t home.
Silence cut through the rain.
I jogged back to my car. Drenched.
I wrung out my gray sweatshirt
before taking my place behind the wheel.
The keys in the ignition lay silent.
I leaned my seat back and stared at the ceiling.
A minute passed, and another minute.
They felt like hours in my soggy socks and shoes
as they lightly rested on the peddles.
The silence came into the car.
It crept in from outside.
The snapping noise of Megan’s seat belt snapped me back to life.
The cool worn leather of the steering wheel seemed to pulse
under my hands as I gripped harder. Finally tired
of waiting I smashed the palm of my hand into the horn.
A gnawing sound bleated from the car, harsh, brittle,
and telling of the car’s age.
The lights of the house finally flipped on
as he came out of the night and waited by the door.
We reluctantly spilled out of the car
and shuffled to the house with our gifts,
the wrapping paper growing damp with every soggy step.