The Found Poetry Project

The translucent silvery
Delta Smelt
is rapidly disappearing.
Soon the only shiny
things we’ll find in the water
will be a woman’s lost earring
shimmering on the river bottom.

__________

Written by NPR + Memory
All Things Considered
NYS Thruway, Date Uknown

Found by Alana Sherman
Woodbourne, NY

Alana: This found poem was sort of invented. It comes from what I remembered from a news report on NPRs All Things Considered heard while I was driving, probably too fast, in my car on the NYS Thruway.

I can not have read the information
of a capture board.

A capture board can not exist.

The driver
does not become the install.

Will continuously
you install?

__________

Written by Anonymous
www.engrishfunny.com
Error message when attempting to install DVR System
software on a Windows computer, 2/4/09

Found by Anne Haines
Bloomington, IN

0. Calm
Sea is like a mirror

1. Light air
Ripples with appearance of scales;
no foam crests

2. Light breeze
Small wavelets;
crests of glassy appearance,
not breaking

3. Gentle breeze
Large wavelets;
crests begin to break;
scattered whitecaps

4. Moderate breeze
Small waves,
becoming longer;
numerous whitecaps

5. Fresh breeze
Moderate waves,
taking longer form;
many whitecaps;
some spray

6. Strong breeze
Larger waves forming;
whitecaps everywhere;
more spray

7. Near gale
Sea heaps up;
white foam
from breaking waves
begins to be blown
in streaks

8. Gale
Moderately high waves
of greater length;
edges of crests
begin to break
into spindrift;
foam is blown
in well-marked streaks

9. Strong gale
High waves;
sea begins to roll;
dense streaks of foam;
spray may begin
to reduce visibility

10. Storm
Very high waves
with overhanging crests;
sea takes white appearance
as foam is blown
in very dense streaks;
rolling is heavy
and visibility reduced

11. Violent storm
Exceptionally high waves;
sea covered
with white foam patches;
visibility further reduced

12. Hurricane
Air filled with foam;
sea completely white
with driving spray;
visibility greatly reduced

__________

Written by British Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, 1805
See: www.stormfax.com/beaufort.htm
“The Beaufort Wind Scale,” 1/11/09

Found by Annlee Ellingson
Los Angeles, CA

Note: The idea that Beaufort’s scale reads like found poetry was suggested by Donovan Hohn in his article “Monsterwellen,” Outside Magazine, January 2009, page 84.