Found Poem

Name: _________________________

Found poems are created by taking existing text and reformatting them using poetic phrasing
and stanzas to give them a new, poetic interpretation. You MUST cite the novel, using MLA
(Modern Language Association) guidelines. See below.

Below are 3 sentences from my current novel, ​Born a Crime: Stories from a South African
Childhood​ by Trevor Noah:

Eventually I came to a stop and pulled myself up, completely disoriented. I looked around and
saw my mother, already on her feet. She turned and looked at me and screamed.

“Run!”

Reformatted for a Found Poem

RUN!

(words from: Noah, Trevor. ​Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood​, Doubleday
Canada, 2016.)

Eventually,

I came to a stop

and pulled myself up,

completely disoriented

I looked around

and saw my mother--already on her feet

She turned and looked at me

and screamed

“Run!”

--arranged by A. Peach
Directions:

1. On the lines below, copy two or three unique, descriptive or peculiar sentences found in
your silent reading book.
2. Cite the sentences using the information you gathered below.
3. Create a title for your poem.
4. Beneath the title write (“words from” and give the citation)
5. Break the sentences into poetic lines, arranging words and phrases in the most
meaningful and surprising ways. Do NOT rearrange the word order.
6. At the bottom of your poem, write “--arranged by (your name)

In the space below, copy down 2 or 3 interesting sentences from your novel:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Cite​ these sentences from a book:

Author’s name (Last Name, First name):___________________________________________

Title of the Book: __________________ __________________________________________

Publisher: ___________________________________________________________________

Publication Year: _____________________________________________________________

It will look like this:

Last Name, First Name. ​Title of Book.​ Publisher, Publication Year.

___________________________________________________________________________

On a separate sheet, break the sentences into a poem using poetic phrasing to bring a new
interpretation to the words. Do NOT rearrange the word order.