How to write a Verbatim poem

The idea is simple. Extract a whole passage of text from a non-poetic source and arrange it, word for word, into lines. Give it a title. And that's it.

Submit your poem now

But if you’re going to get jazzy, here are some guidelines:

What’s a non-poetic source?

Not a poem. Or song lyrics. Or intentionally poetic prose. The spirit of Verbatim is to find poetry in words that were not originally and primarily intended to be poetic – the more ordinary the better.

Can I change the text to fit the poem?

You can enhance it for presentation, for example:

• Take out a word here or there or flip a contraction (don’t/do not) to make a line scan better
• Add or remove punctuation marks to make them consistent or for effect
• Denote speech, change of voice or emphasised words with italics
• Replace numerals and symbols with words

But don't change so much that you create the poetry instead of finding it:

• Don’t insert your own words
• Don’t delete words so that the meaning of the text changes significantly
• Don’t cherry pick words and phrases to create a poem that really wasn't there

Other ways to create a Verbatim Poem

A popular variant is the extracted found poem, where elements found in one place are composed together. For example, lines from the list of famous last words on Wikiquotes might be shaped into a sonnet.