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Glyn Matthews's avatar

I always keep my eye open for found poetry. The joy is in recognising them. It's like finding a dropped pound coin in the street, but so much better sometimes. Here's one, absolutely word for word that I found a couple of weeks ago on a 'neighbourhood website'. I simply formatted it as a poem........

Smile for the Cameras

To all the rats

who come out at night,

especially the ones

who live in Stanley Street,

flashing their car lights,

drug dealing, smoking cannabis,

sniffing nitrous oxide,

throwing their takeaways,

gas canisters, rubbish everywhere,

music playing , off their heads,

behind the back of Warreners Walk ,

hiding so no one can see them,

ignorant disrespectful,

park outside your own houses,

you need to get job ,

obviously your wives don’t know,

keeping us awake all night,

you have been caught on camera,

and reported to the police.

Smile for the cameras.

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zanna beswick's avatar

yes, I see. And I so agree about needing to be freed from first drafts. I'm often amazed by how much editing, how many drafts I do (enjoyably) and are necessary. In a poem every comma, word, line counts, as the form is such a crucible....

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