Love Letters to Poetry | Finding Poetry

One of my favorite poetry anthologies is In Search of Color Everywhere, edited by E. Ethelbert Miller. As a poet, I search for poetry everywhere. And sometimes I find it.

For a while, I have crafted found poems, sampling existing texts and arranging them to create a poem. The glossary of the Academy of American Poets defines the found poem as “the literary equivalent of a collage.”

My first found poem--composed of poem titles--was a tribute to the late poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins. Next, came a poem about the First Amendment right to assemble that strung together picket sign slogans. Then, a nursery rhyme composed of Motown song titles.

I grew up on the Motown Sound: the Supremes, Temptations, and Miracles; Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. To write my Motown found poem, I consulted the artists’ discographies. From a long list of love songs, I chose titles that lent themselves to either rhyme or enjambment. The resulting poem—Sugar Pie Lullaby—celebrates bedtime rituals among the diverse families lovingly depicted by illustrator Sawyer Cloud.

When I pitched the manuscript, editors wondered, “Can you do that?” According to the U. S. Copyright Office, “Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases.” Consequently, the licensing agency’s review of my request determined that no permission or fees were required to use only the song titles in a derivative work. My Motown found poem was a go!

Sugar Pie Lullaby, which debuted in February 2023, concludes:

Mercy, mercy me.
Heaven must have sent you.
Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours.