THE WRITER'S CRAFT

THE THEMATIC "FOUND POEM"

This writing exercise is designed to help you make connections among different articles in this week’s issue of TIME. It is also designed to help you read more closely, and to select and make use of writing you particularly admire for its style.

1. Identify a topic or theme that connects at least two different articles in TIME this week. For example, you might choose a subject that links two or more pieces of news, such as politics, finance, technology, arts or law. Or you might select a more thematic or metaphorical idea—something you see that links several pieces but may not literally be the topic of those pieces: racism, for example, or violence or ethics. (Your instructor may choose to have the whole class work on the same topic, or you may work individually.)

2. Next, go through the magazine and copy or cut out any words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs that touch upon your topic in any way. Copy or arrange them on a fresh sheet of paper.

3. Now it’s your turn to create something new using these words and phrases. Play with them for a few minutes. Move them around on the page, put them in a different order from the one in which they originally appeared, add your own words to them, take words out of the original. Try repeating the strongest or most important ideas; experiment with breaking the lines or spacing on the page. In other words, alter, add to or take away from the original words in any way you like. The only requirement is that when you’ve finished you feel that your new piece captures something important about the topic, uses some actual words from the articles in TIME and sounds interesting to you.

4. Write your new "poem" on a clean sheet of paper and read it aloud to others in the class. What reactions does it elicit? What images stand out for listeners? What phrases or themes do your classmates find most effective? What ideas for strengthening or revising your poem can classmates offer? What is your own reaction to hearing the poem aloud? Do you see ways to tighten, expand or restructure your poem?

5. If you like the "found poem" that you have created, please send it to us at TIME Classroom so that we can consider it for publication in a future edition of this guide or on our website. Send your submissions to the address in the box at the bottom right corner of this page.