The Found Poetry Project

Have dinner ready. Men are hungry.
Prepare yourself. Be more interesting.
His boring day may need a lift.
One of your duties is to provide it.
Encourage the children to be quiet.
Be happy to see him. Show sincerity.
Listen to him. Let him talk first.
His topics are more important than yours.
Don’t greet him with complaints, problems.
Don’t complain if he stays out all night.
Arrange his pillow. Take off his shoes.
Speak in a low, soothing, pleasant voice.
Be happy. Don’t ask him questions.
He is the master. You have no right.
A good wife always knows her place.

____________

Written by unknown author
Housekeeping Monthly
“The Good Wife’s Guide,” 5/13/55

Found by Megan O’Reilly Green
Los Angeles, CA

Nathan Fillion technically is not
my boyfriend.

He belongs to someone else and I
have violated the terms of our “arrangement”
by claiming him as my own.

For the record, he never has been
my boyfriend.

But watch out.

__________

Written by Tivo Queen
tivoqueen.blogspot.com
“Public Retraction,” 10/13/08

Found by Patrick Edwards-Daugherty
Montreal, Canada

‘I’d like to
verb your

noun until
you verb.’

That
sort of thing.

__________

Written by Lawrence Block
The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian
Arbor House, 1983, page 70

Found by Thom Kilpatrick
Torrance, CA

Thom: “A woman euphemising the content of her love letters, which an ex-lover refuses to return.”

I have, of course, my crush ~
my darling of the rodeo.

I daydream sometimes
about going to see her.

I could make that happen.

But that’s just clouds
in my coffee.

            I wouldn’t do that

for the same reason I don’t
try to pick up women

in the supermarket ~

I’m not smooth, I can’t think
of anything I could say

which wouldn’t be obvious,

& uncomfortable for both
of us.

            In daydreams,

there are no awkward
silences.

__________

Written by Jeffrey S. Cunningham
theazureman.livejournal.com
“I Watched & I Waited…” 1/3/09

Found by Faith Stringer
Bryan, TX

“…please stand clear of the
platform as the trains enter
and leave the station…
please stand clear of the platform
as the trains enter and leave…”

__________

Written by Anonymous
New York City Subway

Found by Thom Kilpatrick
Torrance, CA

Thom:

“endless announcement
played through speakers at each stop
of New York’s subway
system. (In our sleep at night,
that damned message played and played…)”