A Found Poem

Wikipedia defines found poetry as: "a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and re-framing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning."

Last week was my spring break and during those glorious, lazy days at home I found myself listening to music a lot.  I listened to my old favorites and downloaded some new favorites to enjoy.  Apparently, the music was making quite an impact on me because I would catch myself singing favorite bits and pieces of those songs even when I wasn't listening.

Once I noticed how the lyrics were getting stuck in my head, I started thinking about how powerful music is and then, how music is a form of poetry.  I kept thinking there must be some way to turn all that music and thinking into a slice.  Yesterday I spent some time looking up lyrics on www.metrolyrics.com and copying the pieces that I found most meaningful into a Word document.  I had no idea where I was going with that process but I assumed I would figure it out eventually.

Today I started thinking that maybe I could find and highlight individual words in each set of lyrics that I copied that would make a poem.  That was my grand plan.  And then I sat down and started rereading the snippets of lyrics that I had and realized that combined together they made an interesting poem that went well together and flowed nicely.  And so...my slice for today was born!  Maybe you will recognize some of the lyrics!  I have no idea if I gave proper credit in the correct way, but I did the best I could without pulling out the college APA/MLA style textbook.

You've got

The most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen

You've got

Me almost melting away
As we lay there

Under a blue sky with pure white stars

Exotic sweetness

A magical time
Say it, say it again

I love you always forever

Near or far, closer together

Everywhere I will be with you

Everything I will do for you

Yeah, I was caught somewhere between
A woman and a child
One restless summer
We found love, growing wild
On the banks of the river,
On a well beaten path
It's funny how those memories they last             
Like strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, oh, bittersweet

If I could walk on water
If I could tell you what's next
Make you believe
Make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire and the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard and drown me in love

Happy is the heart that still feels pain
Darkness drains and light will come again
Swing open up your chest and let it in
Just let the love, love, love begin

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are

Raindrops, rolling off my brim
Streetlights, got the pavement glistening
Touchdown, I fall into your arms
Right where I belong, your everlasting arms
Where would I be, without you
I'd be packing my bags where I'd need to stay
I'd be chasing every breeze that blows my way
I've been building my kingdom just to watch it fade away,
It's true
That's me without you!

Lyrics from www.metrolyrics.com

Stanza 1: I Love You Always Forever, sung by Donna Lewis

Stanza 2: Strawberry Wine, sung by Deana Carter

Stanza 3: Come on Get Higher, sung by Matt Nathanson

Stanza 4: Everybody, sung by Ingrid Michaelson

Stanza 5: I Won’t Give Up, sung by Jason Mraz

Stanza 6: Me Without You, sung by Toby Mac