Found poetry:
The recent passing of Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defense, reminded me I’d found a book of his poetry that at a garage sale years ago. Well, it’s not actually Rumsfeld’s poetry. Rather, it’s “found poetry” composed from his talks, speeches and Q&A answers, as compiled and (brilliantly) edited by Hart Seely, published in 2009.
In found poetry, poets refashion existing texts and present them as poems. It’s the literary equivalent of a collage, often culled from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches and letters. A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.
From the introduction to Pieces of Intelligence
At times, Rumsfeld composes in jazzy, lyrical riffs that pulsate with the rhythm of his childhood on the streets of Chicago. From there, he’ll unfurl a Homeric tale cautioning us about the ways of bureaucracy. He’ll fire off rounds of irony with a Western cowboy’s sensibility, enough for some to call him America’s poet lariat.
A few poems:
My favorites are the short poems, like this:
EVASION HAIKU
I’m working my way
Over to figuring out
How I won’t answer.
–Dec. 3, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
IN COMMAND
A government is
Governing or it’s not. And
If not, someone else is.
—March 32, 2003, NBC’s Meet the Press
I appreciate how this poem can be applied to today’s standards, considering Kelly Ann Conway and her “alternative facts”:
ODE TO THE FACTS
When People are working off the same set of facts,
They tend to come to quite similar conclusions.
When people are working,
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,
But not their own facts.
And if you’re all on the same sheet of music,
Why, you tend to sing the same song.
—Sept. 24, 2002, news conference in Poland
Some days I feel the same way:
OBSERVATION OF THE SYSTEM
It’s hard enough just to keep track
Of the things that are really happening,
Without having to worry about
All the things that aren’t really happening.
—May 1, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
Here’s a longer poem that I like for it’s irreverent tone:
QUESTION MARK
I don’t remember
That I’ve ever thought of anything
Original in my life.
I go around with people
Who are smarter than I am,
That know more than I do
And have done things I haven’t done
And asked questions
And talked to them
And figure out what I think.
And when I figure out what I think,
I will then to talk other people about it.
And we end up on the phone
And I’ll say what about this?
What about that?
What about this?
What about that?
And he’ll have ideas
And we’ll talk about things
And ultimately out of that interactive process
Comes what happened.
And trying to–
It’s like trying to take a rubber band ball
And a string know
And say how do you follow it through
As to where something came from.
I don’t know where it came from.
–Jan. 14, 2002, interview with Newsweek
Whether or not you liked Rumsfeld’s politics, this collection is well curated and brilliant, and his words are remarkably relevant. The book is still available; see Simon and Schuster for sources.
Thank you for visiting Linda’s blog.
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Learn more about her award winning novel, In the Context of Love.
Learn more about her picture book, Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Learn more about her poetry chapbook, Security
