After reading some examples of found poetry, I’m reading empanada recipes and lengthy handwritten letters from my grandma as potential sources to pull from. Last class, we looked at a few ways in which found poems like “Blonde” form political statements about stereotypes and sexual violence. The article we covered investigated appropriation within McDaniel’s use of found poetry. I started to see found poetry in this somewhat negative light, thinking it can only materialize into something serious or harmful.
I remembered a series of videos I watched a few years back, titled “YouTube Comment Reconstruction”. It’s found poetry portrayed in such a comedic way. It’s hilariously brilliant. Film maker Adrian Bliss (side note: my last post was about musician Tom Rosenthal, who creates music for Adrian and other artists, check them both out!!) directed 10 videos in which 2 very posh old British gentlemen hold a conversation. Their script? A conversation from the YouTube comments section (oh, yes), riddled with the amount of rudeness, stupidity, ignorance, and trolling(?) that one would expect to find down there. The one I shared below is my favorite video, in which one user confuses Nelson Mandela with Morgan Freeman… Enjoy!