Children's Literature

POETIC FORM

 

The Arrow Finds Its Mark

Heard, Georgia. The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems.  Illustrated by Antoine Guilloppé.  New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2012.

Georgia Heard asked poets to put their powers of observation and creativity to the test with “found poems.”  The premise is simple: Use text that already exists, eliminate words, change the line structure, insert punctuation, or define stanzas to create a “found” poem. 

The collection of poems included in The Arrow Finds Its Mark are written by an amazing group of poets and were found in everything from websites to dictionaries to airline magazines.  Being “found” in other materials, the poems in this collection tend toward more rhythmic and less rhyming.  Figurative language can be found in a few of the poems.  “Walden is a perfect forest mirror” is a metaphor in “Walden Pond” and helps readers see how smooth the pond is; personification is used in “First Wins.”  “First kicks open the door” shows the reader how powerful being first can be.

These “found poems” have less to do with emotion and more to do with how words feel and taste and sound as they are rolled around in the readers’ mouths.  The titles often give the poems some direction, bringing meaning to the words. 

The table of contents at the beginning lists each of the poems and authors followed by an introduction explaining what authors were asked to do.  This introduction helps readers understand the “found poem” as well as providing insight into poems to come.  The back of the book lists permissions for each of the poems. 

The simple black and white drawings fit the poems and, with only one poems on a page, the book is an easy read. 

Found by Georgia Heard in The Oxford Thesaurus

“Find a Poem”

Find v.

come across

chance upon

stumble upon

discover

turn up

bring to light

unearth

locate encounter

recover

retrieve

regain

get

realize

acquire

find:

find the cheese too strong

find out the truth

the arrow finds its mark

Before reading this book:

Share Georgia Heard’s poem, “Find a Poem.”  Discuss the way she used a dictionary definition to create this “found” poem.  This gives students an introduction into this poetic form.

Follow-up:

Have students use the “Word Mover” app on their iPads to create their own “found” poems. Then challenge them to look for "found" poems in the world around them.