Section One: What is Life?

It’s not always easy

To tell whether something is

Alive. Your teacher will give you

A wind-up toy. Observe.

Bring a slice of lemon

To your mouth. Describe.

The mildew in your bathroom

Will grow. Experiment.

Flies do not arise from

Rotting meat. Consider barnacles.

Obtain your teacher’s permission.

Last week Laura’s posts and original poetry at Author Amok inspired me to look at found poetry again. http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2012/03/poetry-friday-celebrity-found-poems.html This time with a lot more interest. I started looking around the internet and discovered some amazing found poetry written by students all over the country in response to the New York Times Found Poetry Challenge. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/reflections-on-our-found-poem-challenge/ Of course I had to try. My first attempts were awful. Finding a poem is a lot harder than it might seem. Then I got out my son’s eight grade biology text book. Aha. I think I found something.