Megan Caldwell Chandler

I’ve always wanted to create a miniature handmade book, and this week I have accomplished just that.  Titled Everything Was Going to Be All Right, this tiny tome measures approximately 2 ½” x 2” and is 1” in thickness.  My main focus for this book was to use the tiny scraps of paper I’ve been saving from previous projects.  Because this created such a mishmash of images, I wanted to do something that would unify all the pages.  So I decided to create a found poem. 

Making a found poem takes quite a bit of time, but I really enjoy the process and the finished product.  The way I go about making found poetry requires spending several hours cutting interesting words and phrases out of old, discarded books.  Once I’ve cut out enough words, I arrange them in columns on my table top.  Now the fun part begins.  I start pulling out and pairing compelling phrases, until I’ve created a poem.  As I’m arranging the words, I’m not looking for a story or theme to appear, but one usually does.  And although the poems are haphazard and nonsensical, there always seems to be a kernel of truth that floats to the surface.   

Everything Was Going to Be All Right

She was a woman
lesser God
too sensitive
naked limbs

And we shrink
side-by-side.
Tell me what you think,
Speak to me.

Her reply
about death
was anxious
and peculiar

Yes, I tried.
aspirations, traditions and
religion
And they had quickly died

I need confirmation.
scientific opinion
it would be difficult
to replace the diagrams.

She wrote
I know what I’m doing
But it never seemed
stripped naked,

But almost at once
we can feel
Disagreement
blue-black

He remembered
Touching it,
and the apple
She had been right

But he
watched, waited,
and then explained.
Everything was going to be all right.