By Lucy Syvarth
For my found poem, I used the lyrics from the song “Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem. This song is about relationship abuse from the perspective of the abuser himself. Instead of keeping the same point of view of the abuser, I made my found poem from the perspective of the woman being abused. My method was to read the lyrics of the song over and over again while listening to it and picking out the most powerful words and phrases that stood out to me. I then printed the lyrics and cut out these words and phrases. I would look at them and think about what I want those words to say in the bigger picture. For example, when I saw the word “game”, I wanted to fabricate that into the speaker feeling like a game to be played. Additionally, with the word “suffocate”, I wanted the speaker to feel as if being with her abuser is suffocating. I also wanted to use the phrase “Here we go again” at the beginning and the end of the poem. I did this to show that abuse is a vicious cycle that is very hard to get out of. I left the last phrase without a period to create a sense of the poem being unfinished because this abuse isn’t over either. Additionally, I used the space on the page to space out lines that are meant to be read more slowly and space lines close to each other that are meant to be read quickly. I also taped the words on the page haphazardly to show that these are more jumbled thoughts of someone being abused rather than a thought out speech. I also shadowed some of the words with the same word for phrases that are meant to be read with more emotion, as if the speaker’s voice is breaking.
This poem means a lot to me, not only because I worked hard on it and put a lot of effort into it, but because I can relate to the speaker’s experiences. I put a lot of my own emotion into this poem. And even though the speaker feels broken down and trapped, I wrote this from the perspective of how I used to feel. Working on this poem empowered me because I realize how differently I now feel ever since I got out of that abusive relationship. Also, the song is about the same issue that my poem is about so it is nice to know that there are people that can relate. They take those issues and create them into a piece of art, whether it be a song or a poem. I never thought much about Zong! and what a found poem means but now that I created my own, I understand much better. It is about taking a piece of something that means a lot to you and making it into your own piece in order to tell a story and illustrate the feelings they bring up. I learned that you can take something that upsets you and create it into something to tell your story and empower you.
Hey Lucy! I really loved how you changed this song, and made it so poetic. The way you used the words really made the abuse more prominent. From the point of view being the person who has been abused, it made it more clear of what abuse in a relationship is actually like, and how it is an ongoing cycle. I really loved how you didn’t use punctuation to end the poem because it emphasizes the cycle repeating.
Hi Lucy! I liked how you repeated the important words of “Here we go again” showing that the abuse seems like a never ending problem. With this poem, it also shows how manipulative the abuser can be towards the one getting abused. The abuser makes it seem that its the abused fault and the abuser breaks the one getting abused mentally and physically. The abuser breaks them down so much that the one getting abused is used to the consent violence that is inflicted on them. It just makes me realize how hard relationships can be, especially when the problem is a never ending struggle and one can’t escape.