Found Poems

“If everything is art, then nothing is art”   Where did that quotation come from?  I’m still looking for the source and going back to the days of Duchamp and the “Institutional Theory of Art” where the concept is the only original part of the art itself.

    And I can easily apply it to writing, which brings me to the “found poem.”  Yes, you can find poetry everywhere, but isn’t it the job of the poet to translate image into words?  The poet can also find those words ready made, but then, what is it?  It can be a commentary on society; it can be a scathing criticism, or simply an amusing discovery.  The question is, is it a poem?

   I recently went to a poetry reading where the poet read a couple of found poems.  Granted, this was a well known writer who has every right to read whatever pleases.  One found poem was the menu from the evening’s dinner.  The other was the instructions of what to do in case of a fire, taken from a motel room.  Both were entertaining.  But beyond the concept, the work can be meaningless which is of course, the point, once again.

   So here is my found haiku- at least one line was found.  It’s written for fun, not for meaning.  The only meaning lies in debate.   

City graffiti

“Be ready and carry chalk”

washed clean by spring rains.